A Drake's Fable
by Wyverntooth
Summary: A dragon that has lived a hundred lifetimes, a nation of equines and a world that's oppressive; what could be better. Sparks will fly once more as War's son places his paws on soil once more and walks amongst the mortals he'd killed millennia ago. Going to get dark, AU, seemingly ooc characters, language, suggestive content, and my unique manners.
1. Hatching Into a New Mentality

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! Not sure I'm if going to post this or not, but I needed to get this outta my system. I'm not gonna lie when I say I'm a bit of a brony, however that's not enough of a reason to give me shit. This idea has bugged me ever since I read Vacavung and Metal-Kitty's MLP comics. The stories they've made are pretty far from what MLP is an' has been. That got me thinking what it would be like if certain characters knew of the other timelines and if they could, what would it do to their personalities. The characters who'll be aware of the other universes will be somewhat obvious in the case of a certain pair, while the other's will be explained.

The other part of my idea's to give characters more depth than they already have. Most of the Mane 6, the Royal Sisters and other such characters are fleshed out pretty well, but a number of the MLP community-young and old-have commented that they didn't feel as three-dimensional as they were hoping. Hopefully, I'll be able to flesh out this creature I'm planning to call a story. If it gets too dark for anyone; sorry, but this story might not be for you.

Forewarning, I might not capture my idea very well or I might make it too much in some instances, but I enjoy the idea behind the show and it's teachings and I'd like to see more mature takes on the show and the things going on in it. I don't own MLP or anything else I bring into this story, if I post it at all or make it an ongoing series. Also, most of the ideas behind the appearance(s) of characters are gonna partially be based on the headcanon images made by Earthsong9405 on Deviantart.

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal** **speech** "

 ** _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_**

 _Am I going to wake up soon?_ I thought to myself, knowing I wouldn't be answered as I floated within thick and thin albumen, my form still barely that of the dragon I was yet I remained completely and utterly self-aware. Conscious of my state and unable to hatch as I was in a perpetual stasis as an egg, I had little to do but question and remember. Defining myself was an utter nightmare and I had done this for so long, I'd driven myself mad on numerous occasions if only to be sane once more thanks to the company of nearby creatures that would come close enough to give me the time.

I'd been inside that egg for a while now. _How long?_...I didn't know at that point. Time didn't really hold any actual meaning to me at the time. Whenever someone made contact with my eggshell I could use magic to see the world outside of my egg. Such beautiful, amazing, strange and uncertain things awaited me outside my egg. Waiting was the only thing I could do, but I still felt impatience at the knowledge that if I could just crack the shell even a little bit I could be among those things I'd seen.

 _Where did I learn magic?_ I asked myself, the answer coming to me quickly in the form of a memory of a pink haired man, a white haired woman, a blue cat and a small girl being around me after and before I was an egg. _Right. Dad taught me._

"WE HAVE TO STOP THIS BEFORE IT GETS OUT OF HAND!" A voice? Something was happening.

 _What's going on out there?_

"NO! I CAN DO THIS!" Said a different voice, a great surge of power garnering my attention with the added bonus of giving me my answer and my ticket out of my egg!

 _Celestia's testing a potential student, seeing if they can hatch my egg! YES! FINALLY!_ I felt the strange pony's power envelope me, giving me the strength to develop and hatch with a vengeance. I took that without a moment's hesitation, breaking through the shell and subjecting my senses to so much at once I nearly went into shock, but I didn't stop until nothing remained of my eggshell.

It didn't end there, either. Oh no, so much more happened! My 'hatcher', a purple unicorn filly, caught my eyes briefly but in that moment I felt my chemistry kick in as my infantile brain imprinted on her. The little filly's power was so great I began to physically mature at an alarming rate, getting me to grow until I broke through the low ceiling with my expanding wings and body. The ceiling gave and I was exposed to the fresh air I'd wanted for so long. _AT LAST, I'M FREE!_ I could've danced for joy had I not been marveling at how things had changed from the last time I'd seen Canterlot. Looking towards the early day sun, I basked in the warmth every reptile treasured.

The top of the mountain Canterlot was on touched the clouds, breaking through them and creating a cut in the clouds that passed by. Not far from the city, I saw a large mountain range with ice capped peaks and beautiful wilderness about them. Had I not been marveling at the surroundings I would have noticed that the source of my growth was fading until it was too late.

By the time I realized I was reverting to my infantile form, I had already descended into my early adult form and at that point I was reverting too fast to even flap my wings before they too became too small to use. A snarl escaped my maw, garnering only a slight frown from the adults as I was once more a hatchling and frustrating me to no end. Gold covered hooves met the floor as the tall, divine-white mare who'd kept my egg approached. Struggling, I righted myself until I was sitting on my rear, ire in my 'young' eyes at being forced to grow up all over again! _Damn it, Celestia! Why?! I've given you some of my best years, and this is how you repay me?! Leaving me weak and defenseless, using my vulnerable egg-form to test potential students?!_

"Well done, Twilight Sparkle," Celestia said, her flowing mane of pink, sea-foam green, magenta and light indigo waving like it were the clouds themselves. "You have passed and shall begin your studies as soon as you're ready after you recover from the exhaustion." Her eyes purposefully avoided mine, having known me long enough she was all too aware that I was aggravated with her using me as a test for unprepared foals. It wasn't that I was mad I was free. I was mad that she hadn't hatched me herself or had someone hatch me sooner.

"What about the baby dragon?" The now named Twilight Sparkle asked, her eyes and hoof directing the attention of the room's other occupants, specifically Celestia's violet orbs to me. As soon as Celestia saw the look in my eyes, she froze. Being a dragon-specifically my father's-whelp, I had fierce eyes and she knew that when I chose to I could rival a cockatrice in their ability to petrify their targets. "What's going to happen to it?"

Celestia stared into my eyes, her expression a mask of thought for the sake of the others in the room, but I could tell that she was trying her hardest to look away from the eyes that had changed the tide of battles. _Don't you look away, Celestia! Not for a second, or I will hold this over you for the rest of eternity! Come on,_ Queen _Celestia! Assert your dominance over your subject. Over your soldier!_

The others in the room were no doubt aware that whelps were feisty, and I felt my strength return to my muscles, giving me a chance to make sure they didn't make the mistake of leaving a newly hatched whelp wyrmling unguarded. "HSS!" I hissed, rising to all fours and dashing towards Celestia, getting her to flinch, no doubt surprised that I wouldn't wait until we were alone to take out my aggression. I leaped for her, getting her to use her magic to hold me in midair with her horn acting as a conduit for her powers.

I struggled against her telekinetic hold over me to no avail, Twilight Sparkle giggling naively and nervously at my fervor. "..." Celestia lifted me up higher in the air, looking over me like I were a pet she were thinking to buy or like I were a finished project that needed to be observed. "I think I'll study him tonight and, after that is finished..." She looked to the purple filly with a gentle smile I had seen many times before, only then noticing that the filly had a six-pointed star with sparkles around it on her haunch. "You may have him as your responsibility."

The filly did a little dance, bouncing in place before noticing the mark on her haunch. "I got my cutie mark!" She smiled so brightly, staring into the eyes of the mare who held me in the air as well as two ponies I assumed were her parents. Her eyes soon found their way to stare into my no longer glowering orbs that now held exhaustion from struggling against the alicorn princess's powers. Yawning, I let sleep overtake me...

 **Later**

I opened my eyes, finding myself in Celestia's study. Books were shelved in no particular order, scrolls were piled neatly in areas where books would fall, and her desk had a journal she was writing in with a small inkwell that she dipped a quill in. "You're awake, I see." She said, continuing her penwork, leaving me to my devices.

"Wux re vi riika, wux vucot batobot? Si tepoha majaktor wux creol di sia bensvelkilti eorikci, vur Si xkhat vi tirnlg cekip ihk ghergo iri!" I snarled out with difficulty, control over my small body becoming more dependable even if I still couldn't make a difference with it.

"You're not a field test, Spike," Celestia responded, resting her quill in its inkwell for the moment to turn and face me. "You're a dear friend who hasn't walked as a mortal for centuries."

"Vur svaust ui wer dril ihk batobot? Wux tira ti origato ve jimos, Celestia, vur Si mi ti petranasgarh!" Came my heated reply, words coming out smoother than they had earlier. "Si tepohada ekess itheik ihk creolna ekess majak ve wer dastudr ekess jimos, Si tiliw ti shafaer sia kurjh! Shio di sia thurirli, sia irlymi, sia thurirli re gethrisja vur Si tiliw ti yenta veyet'toon tagoa wux ornla ti jimos ve!" I said the last part with pain in my eyes at the knowledge that anything I'd done before being entrapped in my egg meant nothing.

She looked into my pained orbs with guilt, lowering herself to my level to say to my face, "I know what I've done to you was wrong, but your sacrifice has lead to many discoveries in science, magic and medicine through the years you've been an egg! Also, I didn't hatch you because I couldn't bring myself to bring you back into this world after I'd regained my strength from my battle with Luna. Had I hatched you, you and I would be the only immortals left from the war." Ears folded back and head bowed in shame at her actions, she awaited my response.

"Si tira ti xkhat vin vrantvrak tenamalo filki ekess cekip lyriki, Celestia...tepohada wux tora, tepohada wux majaktor ve wer krehl ekess douhvy, Si ornla tepoha authot zyak." My small fists were clenched in anger. I'd given so much to this mare and her cause(s), but always had it been with my consent. Now, here I was, before my old friend who had used me in my vulnerable, egg-form without my consent for years. I felt violated. I felt used. I felt hurt. "Si enela wux, Celestia. Kii ornla wux tir nomeno ekess ve svadrav wux vucata Si ornla qe hefoc nomeno?!"

"I couldn't stand the idea of losing you to some external force like I did Luna, Amore and the others! I just couldn't let that happen, not again!" She was actively crying now, like her tears would undo what she'd done to me! Looking back on it, now, I understand why she did what she did. Our fellow immortals had all either left, died or betrayed us and I was the only one who'd stayed by her side throughout the centuries. The same could've been said for her sister, Luna, had Celestia's depression at so many losses not made her desperate and greedy with the adoration of the citizens.

"Wux re wer dril Si geou jaseve, Celestia! Si ornla tepoha coanwor unsinti wux halkvri wer sulta, shar wux tiliw ti enel ve, tiliw wux?!" I demanded the last part, angry and hurt beyond belief that one of my oldest remaining friends had taken advantage of me in my weakened state and that she didn't trust me enough to let me walk under her sunlight beside her. "Svadrav wux 'nahilnop' kemir ve, Si mi gethrisjir ekess qe sva wer symba di dout z'ar bautwael de hak shafaer! Coi ui clear Si mi ti xihuuli enelir sjek wux geou ti origato ve trekis wer diieson thrae wux tir..."

Saying the last part sourly, tears fighting to escape my eyes, I glared Hell at her while she stared in shock at my decision before bowing her head once more with a nod. "Very well, Spike...I'll abide by your decision. Just know that," She sobbed. "I'm sorry for what I did to you as an egg. I'm sorry for leaving you in the dark, alone! I'm sorry I wasn't there when Silverclaw did to you!"

My eyes, already welling up with hurt tears, flooded over the 'marking' I had over the right side of my face. "ZYAK WUX ZULF VE MOBI EKESS?! BATOBOT JAHUS KII WUX TIRA TI GEWJ XIHOODA?! SIA BENSVELKILTI EORIKCI JAHEN TI AURTHON IHK WUX, WUX TEPOHADA EKESS JASEVE IHK LOEX VE KIRI?! KII, SI JALLA SVENT WUX SIO!"

"I'm sorry..." She murmured, tears rolling down her chin as I vented my anger at her.

Tirade almost over, I slowly began to merely sob and chirp for my mother like the whelp I was. "Si jalla svent wux ihk froneel wux tepoha authot ekess ve, shar...Si shilta ti usv Si geou qe shio loaw..." We both began to openly weep, immortality taking its toll on us at last as we held each other as our only source of safety from the solitude we'd experience otherwise.

After our tears ran dry and night had fallen, Celestia weakly placed a chaste kiss on my head like the maternal deity she was to Equestrians and jokingly said as she brought me close to her in a hug, "I miss Chryssi 'invading' us..." I fought to stay angry at her, as I still felt betrayed, but I couldn't stop myself from audibly chuckling at the fond memories I'd made back then.

"Ve kiri, hehe!" I continued chuckling until I was softly laughing at the fond memories I'd had with the Changeling's god-queen. "Tir wux jinthil svadrav si lowda jacioniv persvek wer quellar di vi coce?" She nodded, chuckling at our antics all those years ago.

"It's nice having someone to talk to about these things after so long. I wish the others could see you again, at least once..." She said this with a nostalgic smile as we remained close together for warmth, the air around us feeling colder and crueler than the winters after the Crystal Empire had vanished. That feeling was one that all immortals felt, wading into Time's river to wave goodbye to those who were carried away on its current...

 **The next morning**

Yawning, stretching my small body out with mild surprise occurring at the realization that I wasn't in my egg anymore, I untangled myself from the still drowzy Celestia's limbs as she strode out onto the balcony overlooking the city to 'raise the sun'. I shook my head at her continuing the charade. Ever since we'd met, I'd been immune to the effects of her and her sister's spell that would dilate the perception of time for other creatures. Neither of the royal sisters could actually alter the orbit of the planet or the moon to change the sun's position in the sky, but whenever they needed to show off their powers they'd cast their spell and make it appear as though the sun and or moon was rising or setting faster than was normal.

Moving to follow her, I noticed a small disk of assorted gems which I ate with gusto as my teeth had already grown thanks to Twilight Sparkle's hatching me. A smile creeped up my face as I thought to myself, _I need to thank her for hatching me, one day. Maybe an assorted bouquet of edible flowers, or maybe a nice dress? Or maybe, I should get her some books on powerful spells? Eh, whatever. I'll figure it out later, right now I've got a platter of gems to eat._

I climbed onto the railing to crouch beside her, unsure of how I felt still. On the one hand, she had left me vulnerable as an egg for years, had used me in that state for research without my permission and had known of Silverclaw's betrayal. On the other hand, she was the only other immortal left and if I treated her poorly, we'd both hurt. _Then again, she did leave me to do most of the fighting back when we were still at war...But because she didn't tell me about Silverclaw's betrayal, I got this badass scar..._ I gripped my head as it shook back and forth, scowling to myself, annoyed to say the least. _AGH_ , _GODS DAMN IT! I CAN'T DECIDE WHETHER TO HATE HER OR FORGIVE HER!_

Before I could have an internal rant, Celestia gave a slight puff of exasperation at her old habits. "I should really start making more varied public appearances. What do you think?" Opting not to speak as I didn't know whether I'd yell or speak normally at her, I gave her a face that merely said 'does it look like I give a fuck' which got her to stare at me with a face that told me that I wasn't being helpful. "You know you're going to be trained to be the best assistant possible for Twilight Sparkle."

The use of her newest student's name kind of grabbed my attention. "Batobot xurwkic ve siofme, ui jaciv wer ergriff ir svaust wux cekipa mrith sia vrantvrak?" I raised a single eyebrow at her as I asked her that question, getting her to nod in answer.

"I didn't trust fate, so I looked into the filly with magic being a common strength in her family history. I had thought to myself, 'if you're to be hatched, you're going to be hatched by the strongest unicorn foal with the greatest potential', and I started sorting through the unicorn foals in Canterlot to find the strongest one with the greatest potential." She said this with a straight face, no worries as to whether or not anyone was listening.

Sighing, I hopped down from the railing back onto the balcony and started to make my way back into the castle to find myself something to eat before I stumbled which made Celestia finally crack. I turned my irritated eyes to her, glaring my annoyance at her which made her crack up harder. The whole time we'd been talking, I'd noticed that she'd been purposefully avoiding looking anywhere but my eyes due to my infantile appearance. My voice had made her smirk a few times beside herself, but my stumbling finally did it. "I'm sorry, Spike, it's just...You're so little, again!"

She lifted me off of my belly, bringing me up onto her back with a begrudged 'thank you' from me which only made her chuckle at my adult intellect and vocabulary being disrupted by my infantile voice. "Si dartak nomeno luh di xkhatir sio!" I groaned, getting her to crack again at my soft, whelp voice that I had no choice but to use. _I hate being a baby again._

An idea hit me all of a sudden, getting me to smirk evilly. Deciding to do it no or never as my chemistry would be problematic sooner versus later. I lifted my tail into the air and began to empty my bowels, getting Celestia to start as I defiled her once clean, pristine floor by leaving a small log of excrement on it. She glared at me in annoyance and disgust at my behavior, getting me to smirk victoriously as I knew that she hadn't been expecting me to stoop so low and she wasn't sure how to take the 'blow' in stride with grace like she usually did. _Spike;1. Celestia; 0 so far._ Her glaring continued until she took a fireplace shovel, scooped and tossed my feces over the balcony where the sound of a small fit of mass hysteria began to stir. _Touche, bitch._

"Anymore little 'strikes' at me?" My answer came in the form of me starting to chirp like the whelp I was, tears starting to stream from my eyes at the separation between myself and the one I'd imprinted on. Placing a small, weak claw up to my scaled cheek, I pulled it away to see them wet with my teardrops. Realization dawned on Celestia as she used her telekinesis to lift me onto her back and started strolling through the castle towards the exit where a small escort of guards was waiting for her arrival. "It's time for this one to be given to his caretaker."

We strode through town, I was on Celestia's back between her wings as I played with her tail feathers, and not much was happening other than her tail feathers ruffling in a way I found entertaining. The way her feathers ruffled was funny to me as it was similar to the way a phoenix chick flaps its wings in alarm or excitement, something I couldn't stop giggling at. After a while, she decided to thwap me in the face with her wirey tail's duster-like poof at its end, getting me to change my target of entertainment.

After a while, she chose to use her telekinesis instead so I would stop playing with her feathers and hair. I was floating above her head before I grabbed onto her curved horn and pulled myself down onto her head, getting her to groan at my antics. Eventually we reached the home of Twilight Sparkle and her family, getting me to start memorizing everything I saw. The roof was tiled in a fishscale pattern that was pretty common in Canterlot's upper middle class, but the thing that caught my attention was the coloration of each tile. Each tile was a different color from the rainbow, the shades were vibrant and very pretty which kept my infantile brain preoccupied for the moment.

The brickwork for the house wasn't too bad, in my opinion, but it was the material that I recognized mountaintop the scent of. _Clay found in the mountaintop river after the snow melts, interesting..._ I let out what, to those who didn't understand me, sounded like just reptile noises. "Si llewarin trinntele..." I growled quietly, getting Celestia to sigh in agreement. She no doubt had to give up a many great, enjoyable things when wartime passed after I'd returned to being an egg.

One of the guards escorting the two of us to Twilight Sparkle's house knocked on the door, getting a young, white unicorn stallion with a blue mane and a slightly curved horn to answer the door. Even with my eyes fading in and out of focus thanks to my difficulty in retaining complete control over my body, I could tell he was wearing the attire of a royal guard. Specifically, he was wearing the attire of a...I wasn't quite sure off the top of my head. Since I'd been risen in the military ranks in record time, I hadn't had time to get too familiar with the insignia for each rank. _Come on, Spike, a private's badge is an arrowhead pointed downward. Corporal is the same symbol with another arrowhead going into it. Sergeant is that symbol with yet another arrowhead piercing the earlier one. Staff sergeant has a rounding on top of the earlier symbol, turning it into a push dagger with a rounded diamond shape in the center..._

The guards were talking to him with respect while I had this trial of memory before I just gave up and made the assumption that he was a sublieutenant, before I found myself on the floor with the twelve year-old looking at me with excitement at having a companion besides the blue-maned stallion who I found to be her brother. I couldn't stop smiling myself as her gaze met mine, the excitement letting off of her with sparks being emit from her horn that got me to start giggling like the whelp I was. She started giggling too, wrapping her front legs around me in a hug that I returned, vibrating my vocal cords as a reptilian purr that she smiled at.

We remained in each other's embrace for a minute before I heard Celestia talking to her, getting me to realize that she had been listening to her new teacher. Knowing that, I started to feel ignored, almost neglected. I decided to fix that by chirping, getting Twilight's attention and getting her to start running a hoof gently over my head in a way similar to how my mother used to stroke my scales. I continued purring in my reptilian manner, not really paying attention to Celestia as I was enjoying nostalgia that Twilight was bringing out of me. Suddenly, after holding myself to her midsection and listening to her rhythmic breathing and heartbeat for a few minutes, I started getting drowzy. _Being a whelp again might be...good for me...help...me remember what it's like to...live..._

I began drifting off, much to Celestia's relief and Twilight's adoration at my cuteness. "Thank you, Princess. I'll take good care of him. What did you say his name was, again?"

"His name is Spike, and he should be helpful in the future. Trust me, dragons are quite stubborn when they're attached to something or someone."

A look of curiosity came across Twilight's face as she asked, "Why is he named Spike?"

"Because," Celestia began wisely. "He hatched when your magic spiked and because those scales going down his spine are round instead of sharp, so it's kind of funny in its irony." Her newest student, and not-so-secret protege, smiled at the answer, chuckling at the second reason and emitting sparks from her horn out of pride. "Would you like to go to your first class today or after you've gotten a handle on how to raise Spike?"

Her question was met with Twilight having a pensive look on her face before she said excitedly, "I'd like to go to my first class today! I've read that baby dragons, called whelps or wyrmlings, sleep for about ten hours a day and don't feel the need to eat very much after they've hatched due to loads of nutrients within the yolk of their egg." She finished the last part proudly, smiling at the surprised expression on the guard's faces as well as the approving look Celestia wore.

"I'm glad you've thought this through, Twilight. Come, let's go before the school opens today." With that, she turned and began her trek to the school she had founded with Twilight at her side. Twilight's older brother, apparently named Shining Armor, was leading the escort as he ranked above the pegasi at either side of us. Although I was asleep, I didn't dream which I was thankful for as that allowed me to be somewhat aware of everything going on around me.

We arrived there just as the school opened up for the students to enter, getting Twilight to be all sorts of giddy with anticipation at everything she was going to learn there. Shining Armor gave her her school things in her saddlebags and offered her words of encouragement before going off to do his duties as a member of the royal guard, getting Twilight to enter the school with Celestia giving her a small tour. After we reached the classrooms, I started tuning everything out besides Twilight's voice.

 **A week later**

Sparkle and I returned to her house after her school attendance was no longer required today, the schedule of her school being based on the students actively _searching_ for knowledge instead of being handed it. That meant that even though there were in-class assignments and lessons, the rest of it was based on the students going out to study for themselves. Students would sometimes be given specific lessons or assignments from Celestia herself. One of the other interesting things about Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns was that the atmosphere was incredibly open and friendly, accepting anyone with the power and drive to learn more than regular schools could provide.

Grades weren't a huge determiner for whether or not a student graduated or not. They did determine whether students graduated, of course, _but_ they weren't perceived as that by the staff or most of the students. To those at the school, grades were actually perceived as representation(s) of where they excelled and where they faltered and whether or not they needed to put more elbow grease into their studying. Surprisingly, this system and mindset worked magnificently. Of course, it had its flaws, like the students' attendance being recognized whether or not they were a part of the 'morning' or 'afternoon' class.

Another one of its problems was that the library wasn't incredibly big and varied in what books were there. This kind of worked in the school's favor, as it challenged students to think on where to find information and teach them to share knowledge amongst each other, as either there was only one copy of a certain book or there were too many copies of a certain book. However, that didn't always work out as some students were asshole elitists who assumed that their status made them privy to specific books or made them incredibly conceited when they withheld information as they said it 'proved' they were more intelligent.

Other than that, the school was perfect for a pony like Sparkle, who had actually found a book on the Draconic language to speak to me as I still couldn't control my body enough to speak Equish. When she first spoke to me in Draconic, I had told her that her use of magic to hatch me had given me a large boost in my intelligence, so she wasn't surprised when I spoke in coherent sentences or full speeches. "Svabol re wux urcaxir, Nixeuta?" I asked her, yawning as she flipped through the pages of a book with I title I couldn't read thanks to my eyes still being those of a whelp. _It's still crazy she knocked out the entire language in a week..._ I thought to myself.

"Kwi, Si mi urcaxir vi turasjir shafaer wer livaij di austratir rekisixi. Wer briquimchy ui wer ir Si mi vorqir sva harkt jaka." She said, smiling at me as I yawned cutely. "Tira wux vucot batobot astahii jahen vucat ekess slathalin svern svabolen kaden astahii ornla vdri shafaer? Coi ui shio zi halkiva."

"Ultroi hefoc coi...Si mi zaja, shilta Si vdri?" I yawned again, my body still recovering from the forced hatching, growing and returning to being a wyrmling. She merely nodded, nuzzling my head as I fell asleep with a smile on the pillow that she left on a raised platform next to her desk. Originally, I had been clueless as to why she put it there, but then she told me it was so I could sleep close to her without a; sliding off her back when she sat down after her legs got tired or b; getting in the way of her schoolwork while she was using her desk and still being in her field of vision.

In the past week, we'd gotten very close and come to understand how the other worked. Sparkle was a lovable know-it-all who preferred reading over social interaction with other ponies. On more than one occasion, she'd gone on long-winded explanations of things not many ponies knew when asked simple questions. For example, I had asked her if she would allow me to eat the mice in the house, and she had gone onto explain how mice and rats had been the lead spreaders of certain viruses and plagues. Seriously, I didn't need to be told how ponies contracted Leptospirosis, Bubonic plague or Salmonella from rats and or mice biting them, because I've _seen_ it!

Either way, I'd found that in our short time together and in her time at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, Sparkle had become increasingly social, enough to make quarter-decent conversation before ponies started to ignore her, and frighteningly knowledgeable about the anatomy of other creatures, so much so that she had become the impromptu doctor for her family. I was actually surprised her cutie mark wasn't a scalpel and an Asclepius, or something. She began reading aloud the words in her book, explaining why pegasi were so picky about what clouds to sleep on and why they slept so often. _Honestly, they sound more like cats than they do ponies._ I thought quietly, letting sleep overtake me again.

Suddenly, I was awoken by a loud knocking at the front door, getting me to start chirping and growling at my sleep being interrupted before it began, getting Sparkle to shush me like she was my mother. Picking me onto her back in case there was danger, we went to the front door and found Shining Armor inviting a unicorn filly around Twilight's age with a curled, purple mane and tail as well as a cloud-white coat with three diamonds being her cutie mark. She had saddlebags on her with books and crafting supplies inside of them. Shorter than Sparkle by what looked to be five inches, even though I could smell the country town on her she carried herself with the grace and manners of a pony groomed to walk among nobles.

The filly had cleft, indigo-violet hooves and a kind layer of meat to her bones which was clearly muscle if the way her nearly-ethereally shining coat moved over her muscles as she moved, placing each cleft hoof carefully like she was afraid to damage the tiles beneath her. When she walked, she placed each hoof intelligently, purposefully like she were preparing for anything, as she stood in a way that looked like a pony-fied version of the- _HOLY SHIT, I THINK SHE KNOWS CAPOEIRA!_

My assumption was proved true when a soccer ball came fly towards the doorway, being intercepted by a backflip kick from the new filly which sent the ball back to its owner who called out their thanks and received them a sweet smile from the pony before us. "Miss Twilight, I presume?" The foal before us asked, her voice carrying an accent of a country pony with a refined, blue-blooded spice in her voice. When she spoke, I noticed that her teeth were perfectly aligned as well as shiny as delicious pearls found in oysters.

"She's not here, ma'am," Sparkle said like a doofus, getting me to giggle and catch the attention of the filly at the door. A gasp of surprise from the filly made Sparkle move me behind Armor with her telekinesis, saying as disapprovingly as possible, "Shining, what have I told you about letting your pet dragon climb on my back?!"

Armor, as I'd come to call him since Sparkle used the first half of his name, had left the doorway to inspect the paperwork he'd left on the table when his sister pushed the blame of my presence on him. "What?!" He asked incredulously, looking to my hatcher almost indignantly.

"Mi Si vi selgtarn ihk wux, kwi Kappa di wer Shehad Shivi?!" I asked indignantly, sounding only like growls and hisses to anyone but Twilight who was also on my shit list. "Vur wux, Nixeuta, svabol wer Uoinota?! Si siofmea yth jahen svihelen!" My complaining got Sparkle to start shushing me, only for the filly to come up to Armor and begin questioning him excitedly.

"Where did you get him?! Are you keeping him?! Can I have him if you don't want him?! PLEAS-mph!" Armor carefully put a cleft hoof over her mouth to stop her from going blue in the face long enough to use his slightly curved horn to levitate me onto Twilight's back with a few words to say.

"If you didn't want Spike, Twilight, then why'd you keep him? He's a gift you earned, and pushing him to me because you think he's going to stop you from making new friends isn't alright." He said this frankly, getting Sparkle to bow her head in shame as she closed the front door, having made sure no one else was planning on entering while their parents were away.

"I know, Shining," Sparkle began sadly. "But after Red Herring and Road Block lied about being my friends, I...I just don't want to have a relapse of that." She said the last part plainly, accepting a hug from me as her brother spoke.

Nodding, Armor said, "I know, Twilight, but now isn't the time to talk about this, especially seeing as we've a guest. Introductions: Twilight Sparkle and Twilight Spike, this is Rarity Belle. Rarity Belle, this is Twilight Sparkle and Twilight Spike respectively." The now named Rarity extended her hoof out to my hatcher in greeting, getting Sparkle to awkwardly offer her own before shaking our guest's hoof softly, getting Rarity Belle to chuckle.

"You act like you've never shaken hooves with someone, Miss Twilight." Her words got said filly to fold her ears back out of discomfort in the direction this conversation was going as she spoke before her brain could stop her.

"Miss Belle, I've never shaken hooves with anypony besides my brother when we played house..." Sparkle's admittance of that fact got our guest to have a shocked expression cross her face while they continued to uncomfortably shake hooves before I crawled off of my hatcher's back and sniff Rarity Belle's hoof curiously.

"Oh...Um," She let go of Sparkle's hoof and tapped the floor nervously as the gears turned in her head, thinking of a way to salvage this suicide of a conversation. "Well, I like you mane! It's so pretty and the way you cut it suits you very well." Rarity Belle offered a weak, friendly smile to Sparkle, getting the purple-violet-and-pink maned filly to nod her head with an uncertain smile as this was the closest she'd gotten to casual conversation with another pony, especially one who wasn't a student or staff member of her school.

"I really like your mane, too." Sparkle piped up, stroking her mane cautiously as she looked to Armor and I in search of encouragement. The best I could do was give her a thumbs up and Armor had already returned to his paperwork. I felt sorry for the stallion. He was a sublieutenant of the Royal Guard, dating his sister's foalsitter who just so happened to be the reincarnation of Princess Amore, and here he was, watching over his LSBFF while his parents were away on business and while his marefriend was reconnecting with her past self's life.

 _He's probably going to be an amazing general when war rears its head again._ I thought while crawling my way over to his side to inspect the paperwork as best I could with my shitty eyesight. From what I could tell, he was trying to organize a more efficient recruiting method for the Royal Guard. _Oh boy, that's gonna be fun._ What I could make out was that his best idea was to analyze the backgrounds of each individual applying to be recruited and to also give them an aptitude test as well as a neuropsychological test. _Hm, that might actually work. Why the fuck didn't we think of that when we were fighting Sombra?! We could've saved hundreds of soldiers every time we attempted a siege on the Crystal Empire!_

I was suddenly telekinetically lifted in front of Rarity Belle to be observed. "He's adorable! Can I keep him?" She asked bluntly, getting me to flail in a vain attempt to escape her telekinetic grasp. Sparkle had a momentarily contemplative look on her face before she shook her head with a smile which got me to sigh in relief. I didn't need to be a whimpering hatchling my whole life, and if I wasn't near Sparkle I'd become just that. I'd be mentally and emotionally stunted, which wouldn't help me anywhere down the line. Rarity Belle placed me on her silky back as she gave Sparkle pleading eyes, although I was too focused on the way her coat reminded me of the way the Crystal Ponies' coats were; supernaturally glossy and diamond-like in both thickness and beauty. I affirmed my suspicions by stretching out on her back, sinking my weak claws under her short coat to find that each strand of hair was actually quite needle-like in the way it felt stiff and by how the light coming in from the windows bounced off the hair I'd disturbed.

"Although you seem like a nice pony, I don't know you well enough to offer him up to you and he's also imprinted on me, so he'll be bawling his eyes out if he's not near me." Taking me from off our guest's back and back onto her own, she offered a not-so-apologetic smile to the pouting pony in front of her. "Oh, you must be a student from Ponyville's month-long field trip, right?"

"Yes," Rarity Belle said as she flipped her mane back in a fashion that emphasized her aesthetic appeal. "I am. I was told that I'd be staying with you for the month I'm here, and I thank you for your hospitality, Miss Twilight." She finished her statement with a bow that Sparkle returned.

"You're welcome, and I hope that you don't find our living conditions undesirable. I'll show you to my room, if you'd like?" Not waiting for an answer, Sparkle lifted our guest's saddlebags off of her back with her magic and took them to our bedroom, leading the new filly into the room where Sparkle spent her time studying in. Entering the room I considered home, our guest beheld the model solar system that hung above the center of our room, taunting me that I couldn't reach it with my little limbs and lack of wings. In the walls beside Sparkle's desk were bookshelves, 'shockingly' filled with books.

The color palette of the room was primarily purple, pink, violet and splashes of red every so often. Sparkle's bed had a canopy over it, crafted stars hanging by strings over her when she slept to simulate the starlit nights she enjoyed so much. At her window, which was right beside her bed, was a telescope and a checklist on a clipboard that has staying on the wall thanks to a sleeve Twilight Velvet, Sparkle and Armor's mother, had bought.

Putting down Rarity Belle's saddlebags, Sparkle pulled a sleeping bag out from inside a cedar chest she had in the corner of our room and unrolled it out on the floor. "Okay," She said with a soft smile at the idea of her first sleepover. "I've unrolled your sleeping bag, Miss Belle, but I'm pretty sure you're hungry after being escorted by my BBBFF."

"Your what?" Rarity Belle asked, smiling curiously with a raised brow.

"'Big Brother Best Friend Forever'." Sparkle answered simply before she heard me yawn, getting her to place me on the stool with the pillow so I could get the sleep our guest's arrival had interrupted. I fell asleep to the sound of awkward, girly giggling as they started chatting it up.

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! ALRIGHT BEFORE I GET VERBALLY CASTRATED, LET ME EXPLAIN! First off, this is gonna bug people unless I address it: Spike calls Twilight by the second half of her name 'cause she shares the first half of her name with her mother, and since Spike isn't a part of the family, he doesn't wanna confuse the family by having to differentiate between the two Twilights every time he says the name and he's several millennia old, so he's run into families where the first name is regarded as the family name or surname.

Secondly, Spike's age. In this story, Spike's several millennium old and has an involuntary power that allows him to restart his life cycle upon death or during death. However, the reason he didn't hatch before Sparkle did was 'cause he had actually died, physically and emotionally due to Silverclaw betraying him. Right now, he's letting that rest in the past while he's a whelp as he's powerless to do anything about it. For the first few chapters, it'll be just Spike's being a whelp and getting used to the new world he's in.

Thirdly, I mentioned characters being aware of other timelines an' that's gonna come up later, not now. Fourthly, Sparkle's met Rarity 'way too early'. This is gonna be the hardest part for people to understand, but it's an AU where the world's not very kind to those in it. For example, Spike and Celestia are veterans of several wars and have experienced the downsides of immortality firsthand. Fifthly, Rarity's name is Rarity Belle. This is somethin' that I agree with Earthsong9405 on and that's that the name 'Rarity Belle' has a nice ring to it, and her name will play a role in the name of another character later in a way that coincides with a rarely touched on theory.

Moliminous touched on this, and explained that it makes sense, but I wanted to combine that theory with Earthsong's headcanon as I enjoy the content both create. Sixthly, I mentioned Vacavung an' I didn't explain what their part in making this idea was. I'm caught up on the MLP comics Vacavung's written (Minus the clop comics, but that doesn't matter) and I enjoy them a lot as they incorporate both comedy, references, multiverse theory and world-building very well.

In Vacavung's 'Chaos Future', Princess Twilight Sparkle mentions that their 'fourth wall is weak' which is why a monster threatened Ponyville. Her son, Alternate Dawn, mentions that three monsters came through their fourth wall from different universes/timelines and that they fused which created the monster that they encountered. Vacavung's comics tend to have a type of continuity that's interesting to view, as more than a couple of their comics are a part of the timeline another one of their comics is a part of.

A comic they made for their patrons is called 'The Adventure Logs of Young Queen' and it's a comment-driven story, meaning the patrons comments choose what decisions are made by the protagonist, the bastardess filly of Chrysalis and Shining Armor. In this comic, some characters admit they're not entirely from the world they're in and all of the decisions the patrons influence creates a new outcome compared to what could've happened. I'm rambling, but I can't emphasize this enough: Check out Vacavung and Moliminous.

The other source of inspiration that's birthed this idea is Metal-Kitty's MLP Project comic, which is not only entertainin' but well thought out and worth the long read. Basically, it's a story that reaps your feels in their sleep and has lots of plot twists that you'd expect in lots of shows but seem right outta left field with how it's portrayed. The characters feel like their canon counterparts in a dark scenario they weren't ready for and the antagonist(s) are relatable, organic and feel like real people you'd bump into in a crowd at some point. Again, I can't emphasize this enough: Check out Metal-Kitty.

Brown-nosing over, I'm open to constructive criticism and suggestions, but if this story isn't for you than that's okay. With that outta the way, not much else to say, so (As always, thanks for bein' here, R&R, no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)


	2. Shiny, Melty Bowl of Hearts

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! I'm actually gonna try to keep this story going as I enjoyed writing the first chapter. Please be aware that this story is not...thoroughly planned and thus, will be jarring at times or often. Also, please check out another inspiration source: FimFlamFilosophy/Dawnsomewhere. No reviews to look at, so let's get started as I don't own MLP or anything else I drag into my creations. From now on, I won't be pointing out any references I make unless it's from an under-appreciated content creator because I think it's about time I let the rest of ya'll figure shit out on your own.

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

 **General POV**

Rarity and Twilight were making idle chit chat as they ate the stew Twilight's mother had made, Shining Armor having to feed Spike tonight, much to the whelp's chagrin and the young stallion's shame. "Miss Velvet, this is an amazing stew." Rarity complimented, getting said author to smile sheepishly at the praise.

"Although I thank you, Rarity," Velvet began, looking to her husband who was sitting under a cloud of sorrow with a pitying smile at the poor male's wasted efforts to be noticed for his skills in the kitchen. "But it was actually my husband, Nightlight, who made the meal. It's him you should be thanking." The astronomer in question looked to his wife with waterfalls under his eyes.

"Is it really that unheard of for stallions to be good cooks?" He whimpered out dramatically, placing his eyes in the elbow of his left foreleg as he turned himself away from their guest, a hoof extended towards her as if to stop her words from reaching his ears. "I guess it's too much to be expected for we meager middle-class ponies to have any skills besides what our cutie mark dictates!" Finished speaking, he began sobbing exaggeratedly, getting Spike to start giggling before mimicking Nightlight's action only with Shining Armor and the food he presented him. This obviously didn't please the white stallion who turned an unamused face towards his father, getting him to start chuckling as he crossed his forelimbs smugly. "Now you understand how you were when you were a foal, son. Not so funny when you're on the receiving end of a 'yucky food', is it?"

Shining's expression became even less enthused about his situation before he received a live fish to the face, said pisces finding its way into his mouth and halfway down his throat before he coughed it up, getting the dragon whelp to begin cackling like mad. Getting forceful pats on his back from his sister, Shining stopped coughing but he didn't stop glaring at the whelp he'd failed to feed. "I don't think he likes me very much." He said plainly, getting Rarity to chuckle at the antics of her hosts.

Coming up beside the little wyrmling, picking up the fish Shining had coughed up and rinsing it in the sink first, she cut it into bite sized pieces and levitated one in front of his mouth. "Like this, sir. Say 'aah'." She said this with a smile at the cute creature before her, only receiving a curious blink at the new challenger and her offering of food. He stared at the piece briefly, sniffing it and blinking confusedly before getting a 'go on' gesture from his caretaker which got him to hesitantly do as asked.

"Aah." Spike said, a fish slice finding its way into his small mouth which got him to chew it slowly, cautiously as his infant brain tried to wrap itself around the fact that the fish was different but tasted good. His face portrayed his confusion before he swallowed and chirped, extending his small paws for the rest before Rarity pulled the platter she'd placed them on away from his grabby little hands.

"Sorry, precious, but you'll get a tummy ache if you eat them all." She received a small growl as Spike struggled to escape his high chair-like pen. Although he'd fit in the high chair, the family had found he got frightened when he didn't feel a solid surface underneath his paws or when Twilight levitated him. He kept shaking the elevated pen, getting it to rock before Twilight held it down with magic and gave him a displeased look, getting him to hiss as he tried to shake it more. "No, Spikey Wikey," Rarity said, having used the nickname a few times and found that it pacified him for some reason which Twilight had jotted down in her notes immediately. "You can't have them all at once. One at a time, okay?" Receiving a small growl that sound confirmatory, she held one in front of his mouth. "Good, say 'aah'."

"Aah." Once more, she placed the fish bite in his mouth, getting him to chomp down on it more fervently this time before he found Shining standing in front of him with the platter Rarity had been holding. Spike stared at the stallion strangely, trying to understand when the change had occurred while Twilight's older brother stared at the whelp interestingly.

After Spike swallowed, Shining offered him another fish bite, getting Spike to sniff it experimentally. "You're probably too young to understand that just because I'm offering it, it doesn't change the fact that it's still the same fish."

"No, sir," Rarity explained, getting the two 'opposing' males to turn their attention to her while Twilight jotted down the exchange in her notes and her parents stared amusedly at the interactions between their daughter's 'child' and their son. "You have to tell him to say 'aah'."

"Oh, okay." Shining said, understanding crossing his face as he turned his attention back to the whelp and cleared his throat. In a commanding tone, he said, "Say aah." Spike stared at him nervously, seeing his 'mother's brother in a new light for the first time.

"You've scared him!" Twilight said defensively, getting her brother to notice that the whelp was backed up in the corner of his small, elevated pen.

"Oh, geez, my bad. Hey, Spike, it's okay; it's just me, your buddy Armor!" He said this with a weak smile, getting Spike to look at him even more nervously and back up even more at his infantile brain failing to understand why this 'strange pony' was pretending to be his caretaker's brother.

Twilight let out an exasperated huff, moving her brother aside as she brought her whelp out of his pen with a look of disappointment in her brother's capabilities. "Honestly, Shining, if you can't feed and pacify the wyrmling I hatched, one of the most feisty creatures in infancy, than how are you going to be able to pacify and feed your own children?" Twilight asked pointedly, raising an eyebrow at the blue-maned stallion who gave her a sheepish smile.

Under his breath, Spike muttered, "Jaci ui ti jaciar..." Twilight shushed him as she held him close, calming him with the sound of her heartbeat and breathing. Although she could understand all his hisses, growls and chirps, everyone else in her house couldn't which suited her just fine as it allowed her to have secrets with Spike that he'd be unable of spilling.

"Thric, wux filki tir ti vucot jacion batobot algbo sjerit." She responded, rocking him back and forth slowly until he drifted off to dreamland.

"Daww," Velvet said, getting her daughter to look at her curiously before a flash of light alerted her to her father holding a charm that created a piece of parchment with a perfectly painted interpretation of a scene where Twilight held the baby Spike. Picking up the photo and waving it giddily, Velvet cooed, "This is going in the scrapbook right beside yours and Shining's cute foal moments!" The siblings gaped at their mother's words before they stared away sharply, blushes forming underneath their coats and starting to show through their hair which got Rarity to stare curiously before she received a look from Nightlight to not ask.

"Oh, Twilight," Nightlight said, looking inside the charm carefully to make sure he hadn't damaged it in some way. "When you go to school tomorrow, don't forget to get a permission pass for Rarity that lets the staff know she's allowed to be there. We don't want any misunderstandings to arise in the month she's here with us, now do we?" He asked this knowingly, well aware of his little filly's forgetfulness when excited, receiving a nervous blush at his subtle referencing of the times she'd been overly excited and forgotten important details. An example of this was the time they had planned a picnic and Twilight had been so excited that she'd forgotten to grab the food as asked.

Nodding with a soft, sweet smile, she softly spoke. "I will, Dad. Don't worry!" Unknown to Twilight, her mane had drooped over her shoulder and over Spike's nose, tickling it until he sneezed and awoke, chirping for his caretaker just as said pony started softly sh-ing him until he calmed down. "That's it, Spike. You're safe and no one's going to hurt you. It's a promise..."

"I really don't know how you can understand that hissing, chirping and squeaking he does, miss." Rarity commented, making an adoring expression at the yawning Spike who stared back with a confused tilt of the head.

Before Twilight could explain, her whelp squirmed and poked her, getting her to turn her attention to him. "Petranas origato ve vhira jaka." He asked, a nod answering him as she put him back on the floor to scamper about now that his motor control was improving.

"It's actually quite simple, Rarity. I could teach you if you'd like?"

"No thank you, Miss Twilight. I don't think I'd want to know a language I'm never going to use." She received an understanding nod from the purple filly who gathered the used dishes and put them in the sink where she began washing them. "Miss Twilight," Rarity asked.

"Yes, Rarity?" Twilight responded smoothly, smiling at finally having a friend besides her foalsitter, brother and her dragon.

"What's your school like?" And like that, the purple filly's mood was killed. Stopping her washing of the dishes, she had a pensive look on her face.

 _Should I tell her about the other students and how mean they are to me? No, she's only going to be here for a month and then we're never seeing each other again. Just like all of the others..._ Smiling again, she continued with her chore. "It's nice there. The library is always open to students, the staff isn't judgmental when you ask for help and the students are all intelligent. If you lived here in Canterlot, I'm positive you'd be accepted in an instant!" _Crap, why did I say that?! Now it sounds like I'm scared of her leaving! Stupid stupid stupid stupid!_

Her true feelings were immediately ignored by Rarity when Twilight said that, stars finding their way into her eyes at the idea of living in Canterlot and being a student in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. "You mean it?!" She asked excitedly, coming up to Twilight's side in an instant at her friend's faith in her capabilities. "You really mean it?!"

"Of-Of course I do, Rarity. You're smart and creative, both are important to be a student at my school. The only thing I don't know is how good you are at magic, but from the way you behave and the way your aura shines on your coat, I'm almost positive you've enough power to enter." Saying this with a hoof to her chin, Twilight eyed Rarity up and down as she saw her aura glow from the praise. Rarity's coat began to sparkle as if glitter had been in her conditioner or she'd been sprinkled with stardust.

"EEEEEE!" Rarity squealed, getting the other occupants of the house to look into the kitchen and try to figure out what was going on before the sparkling became so intense that she started to practically shine a blinding light into their eyes.

"Kethendic?!" Spike asked excitedly, dashing into the kitchen with the intent of getting to eat a gemstone treat. "Vinxa Nixueta!" His plan didn't end well as he ran into Rarity's leg, getting her to turn around confusedly which got her to calm down and stop being so reflective. Twilight sighed at her whelp's assumption and his use of the second half of her name.

"Montu," She said, picking up the confused whelp with her magic and returning him to his happy place on her back. "Sia ominak ui Thurkiitu, ti 'Nixueta'. Origato udoka xoal persvek Equish. 'Twi'..."

"'Twi'," Spike parroted, getting his caretaker to smile excitedly at the progress as she hadn't made any in the passed week he'd been under her supervision.

"'Light'." Sparks started flying off of her horn, distracting Spike by giving him something to look at that his infantile brain mistook for food.

"'Light'." He mimicked once more.

"'Twilight'." She finished, hoping against hope that he'd finally say her name in Equish.

"'Twilight'."

It was as if a grenade had been thrown into that kitchen because the moment he finished saying her name, an explosion of magical sparks flew from her horn and all over the room. "Geez!" Shining said, placing a shield around himself and his parents in the hopes of waiting out his sister's happy storm. On Twilight's face was an expression of euphoria at her efforts having finally coming to fruition as Rarity's coat seemed to become diamond armor.

"Twilight!" Spike said excitedly, squirming out of her hands and dashing around the kitchen in the shower of sparks that he tried and failed to catch. "Twilight! Twilight! Twilight! Twilight!" He continued, repeating the name a few more times before he got bored saying it, deciding to play with his caretaker's tail for the time being. After a while, the light show passed and Rarity's coat returned to normal, leaving both fillies tired from the magical strain they'd unintentionally exhausted in the mixture of emotions the earlier conversation had spurred in the fillies. "Twilight?" Spike asked, his eyes concerned.

"Yes Spike?" She questioned, smiling tiredly.

"Wux jalla trian vdri." He simply stated, getting a nod as a tired Rarity was lead to Twilight's room by said filly.

"Good night." And like that, the three occupants of the room had passed out.

 **The next morning**

 **Twilight's POV**

Ferocious eyes bore holes into my skull, dark lengths reached for me and those terrifying eyes were the only thing stopping them before crystals rose from around me as a defense against both of them when I awoke with a start, finding Rarity awake and reading a book I had on uncommon magics. I looked around and found there was residual magic energy in the air from both last night and Rarity's studying, her brows furrowed as she focused with the preparation for a spell taking her full concentration. _Should I-No. There's still a few hours before the doors open and she's obviously set on finding something she can do. Wait, is she doing this because of what I said yesterday?_

A glow surrounded her horn with a casting of a spell being the cause for it. "Match and mumble, I watch them crumble. There are no ways left for me, give me a light to see. Lapidem Pellem!" My eyes widened as I saw her body turn to stone without there being any negative side effects besides the fact there were now deep indents in the carpeting of my bedroom. The model solar system hanging from my ceiling was spinning with the flow of magic circling the bedroom and cause the pages of most of my opened textbooks to flutter like butterfly wings.

"Woah Rarity, you're so cool!" I said excitedly, sparks flying off my horn as I gave my now startled house guest a few observatory pokes before writing down the most prominent things I noticed, getting her to stare at me nervously as I woke up Spike. "Spike, jikmada stoda vi inloil di jacioniv jaxo!" I commanded, getting him to start awake before dashing to do my bidding, seeing Rarity's tail and chomping down on a the end of it, removing it without incident since his teeth could withstand the durability of most gemstones. He held the piece in his mouth proudly, his tail wagging like he were a puppy. "Bensvelk tawura! Wait, you learned how to say my name in Equish. That means we can start teaching you how to speak fluent Equish!"

"Hey, I didn't agree to lose parts of my body for your research! Give me back that fragment, Spike." Rarity declared somewhat angrily, startling Spike into almost dropping the stone fragment he'd bitten off before he stumbled to return it to her. After he did so, he ran out of the room with the intent of wreaking havoc on the other three who lived in the house.

"But..." I stopped, realizing what my mistake had been. "Right, I didn't ask and just had Spike bite off a small chunk of your tail...You probably hate me now, huh?" Saying the last part, I crawled under my blankets and hid there, muttering to myself why I was always studying alone and never had anyone to talk to about all the things I'd learned besides Spike. Suddenly, I felt a weight above me which I determined to be Rarity as the way the fabric rubbed against the 'something' above me sounded like stone against cloth.

"Now, I didn't say that I hate you. I'm just unhappy that you didn't ask before taking. Had you asked, I'd have given you a piece of my tail without any real problems." She said, draping herself over me while simultaneously pulling the blanket off of my head to place her stone head on my shoulder. Because of her previous action, we found ourselves flat on each other on my bed with a chunk of stone hair in the middle of the carpet.

Surprise crossed my face at that last. "You mean it?"

"Of course! We're friend, miss, and I'm always willing to help a friend." Rarity answered, her smile rubbing off on me even as her stone body laid upon my own.

Rising out from under her, I placed a cleft hoof on her shoulder as I smiled with small tears in my eyes at finding someone who felt like a true friend. "...If we're friends then you don't have to call me 'miss'. After all, we're both darling fillies who are equal in the eyes of the other!" She wiped my tears away, probably assuming that I'd started crying because I thought she hated me, not that was far off, and hugged me.

"Alright then, Twilight; darling. I actually like the way that word rolls of the tongue!" She said this, a thoughtful look on her face before she got the chunk of stone hair that I'd told Spike to take. Holding it in her hoof in front of me, she looked to me expectantly. "Now, what have you learned today?"

Understanding crossed my face as I said, "Today I learned to ask before taking from my friend and to trust that my friend won't hate me because of a mistake...If it's not weird to ask, may I have the chunk Spike took?"

She brought one of my hooves next to hers and places the chunk in the center before bringing my other hoof over it and closing them together as much as possible. "Of course, darling. All you had to do was ask. Now, what are we going to do with it now?"

A smile crawled up my face at someone wanting to help me with my research. "Well," I began, a hoof to my chin as I gently placed the chunk on my desk and brought out some of the equipment my dad had let me borrow. I pulled out a small centrifuge he'd made as well as a small electrophoresis chamber I'd made with him. "We're going to break off tiny bits of it so we can first separate the majority of the solids from the liquids in the centrifuge and then separate those even more finely with electrophoresis. After that we can determine exactly what minerals the stone your body's right now made of actually is and, possibly, figure out why you sparkled last night. Oh, this is so exciting!" I was so giddy that I was bouncing in place with my horn being a fountain of sparks, getting Rarity to look at me in surprise at the excitement I was expressing.

"So we're going to break my already broken hair into smaller pieces, put them into a vial of water, spin it around really fast until the liquid has removed the hair part of it and then we're going to use this box to sort through the make up of the stone based on particle size. That's what we're doing?" Rarity asked the last part as confirmation, getting me to nod. "Alright, just making sure I'm up to speed. Let's do it. How do we start?"

"Well, your hooves are made of stone and this is a piece of your hair which is usually weaker than hoof so..." I let it hang there, tilting my head left and right as I weighed the pros and cons of my idea when Rarity brought her hoof up and began to chip away at it with great force and also great delicacy as she'd brought out a bowl from her bag and had held the chunk over the bowl so she could break it without damaging my desk. "That works! I was going to suggest we borrow Shining's sword so we could use the pommel but that works a lot better. Next we need to separate these out as much as possible and sort them into vials that we'll then fill with some water and then-bam! we've got ourselves the next stage of this project!"

"Alright then." As she said that, I moved things off and around my desk until there was a cleared space for the platter I used to stabilize the centrifuge whenever I used it. She poured the contents of the bowl onto the platter and we began sorting, figuring out which pieces were bigger and which were smaller as well as which were shinier. This took some time and a few extra pieces of equipment, all of which I'd had help designing and putting together. One of these tools was a wearable magnifying glass that was originally a set of monocles that we'd repurposed after finding out they were going to be turned into garbage otherwise. The tool itself looked like an eyepiece with two spindly legs that ended in disks of eyeglass and was held to the face by a strap over the muzzle as well as a cup for the eye socket.

With a few tiny, 'baby' cup sized glasses that I later learned were called shot glasses for some reason and a few disks of extra eyeglass I had around, we made another one for Rarity the stayed on her face thanks to a temporary adhesive she had in her crafting kit. After we finished sorting through the pieces by size and shininess , filled them into vials and filled those with water enough to help separate the actual hair from the minerals as well as further separate the minerals themselves. Putting them on the centrifuge, I started it up and got us some milk to drink while Shining was busy looking for something.

I brought back the milk and found Rarity had returned to normal, her body no longer made of stone and the samples were fine afterwards which was awesome news! "Okay," I took a sip of my milk before continuing since doing research can parch one's throat rather quickly. "Now we decide which samples we test out first. Rarity, since it's your sample, I'll let you choose."

She nodded at that, happy that we were going to figure out why she had been so sparkly yesterday. "Let's start with the smallest since they'll be the hardest and we want to get that out of the way first so we're not burnt out by the time school starts."

"Alrighty then!" We filtered out the pieces we'd collected, removing them from the water and hair particles before putting them into the electrophoresis chamber. I attached the ring-cord to my horn and began to charge it with an electric field that separated all of the particles enough to sort them individually which suited out needs as I removed the ring and we began to identify the particles with our eye pieces and a geological guide to minerals and ores.

Holding the guide before her eyes, Rarity said, "Looks to me like there are particles 'fibrous riebeckite' or 'crocidolite'."

"Hm, you're probably right that it's crocidolite."

"Or fibrous riebeckite."

"Wait," I stopped, realizing what was going on. "Oh, you're just kidding! Right, that book's clear in explaining that some minerals have more than one name. Hehe, you really had me going there, Rarity."

"I wasn't kidding." She said flatly, resulting in an awkward silence to occur between us.

"Oh...Alright then! Well, as we've seen, this sample's made up primarily of quartz that has fibrous riebeckite-more commonly known as crocidolite-which tells me this is blue quartz. Next sample, then? Which one should we check next?" I asked uncomfortably, getting Rarity to stare at me for a moment before choosing the next sample which was the shinier sample group.

"Well..." I said, separating it from the hair and water before sorting through the particles which brought an interested expression to my face. "I'm seeing tiny bits of silicon, not surprising as this quartz, but I'm also seeing bits of iron attached to the quartz which makes some of this sample an amethyst. There's also dumortierite attached to some of the quartz as well as citrine! Ooh!" I squealed the last part, getting Rarity to start as I did a little happy dance. "I saw diamond in the sample too! I think I know why you're so sparkly now when you're excited last night!"

"Wonderful, darling. Would you care to enlighten me?"

"Gladly." Sparks started to fly again as I brought out a history book that I opened to the chapter concerning the Crystal Empire. "The Crystal Ponies of the Empire were renowned for their beautiful coats, brilliant skill in the arts and unyielding will. While in their capital, their coats became gemstones in every sense of the word and their athleticism was the envy of everyone in Equestria minus those in Cloudsdale." The sparks stopped flying as I saw the look on Rarity's face, an expression of shock and minor fear. "What's wrong?"

"The Crystal Empire was an empire, darling. What do empires do?"

"Well..." I began to see the pieces falling into place. "They pillage, plunder and conquer...neighboring cities and...nations..." I paled as I realized what was going through Rarity's head, getting me to hug her and reassure her that she wasn't like them like that but I knew that my words wouldn't placate her when she'd just been told that she was descended from a society of conquerors. I felt wet droplets hit my shoulders and I looked to find she had tears streaming down her cheeks at the knowledge that her natural class, athletic capabilities and her beauty were thanks to her ancestors having bred themselves into being warriors of tyrannical standing. _Geez, I messed up! What do I do? What do I do?! Wait, empires are ruled by either emperors or empresses! Maybe reminding her that the empire's disappeared and that she can change its reputation by refounding it as a peaceful society, she'll stop worrying!_

"Everything I am...is because my ancestors wanted to destroy and steal power..." Rarity muttered, the damage causing the sound of glass cracking to reach my ears and direct my attention to her coat and find crack marks forming from the her cutie mark all the way up to her horn.

 _NO NO NO! THAT CAN'T BE GOOD!_ "Please don't shatter!" I pleaded, seeing that the crystalline theme of the Crystal Empire's citizens and descendants wasn't purely for show. "Please, you're one of the only friends I have and if you shatter I won't be able to stand it! You're not a conqueror or a tyrant; you're a seamstress and my friend! Just because they did that in the past doesn't mean you will and you can give the Crystal Empire a fresh start by restarting it as a kind society instead of a cruel one! Please don't leave me!" I begged, tears starting to leak out of my eyes as light started coming through the growing cracks, getting me to hold on tighter. "Don't go!"

Suddenly, the cracking completed and shards burst from her body, some hitting me hard enough to send me flying into my bed and startling me at the knowledge that she was no longer with me. I found a few shards of her in my hooves and I broke down, holding them close as I whimpered out Rarity's name over and over until I felt a heavy yet gentle, smooth and hard hoof on my shoulder. Looking up with tears in my eyes, I saw only a shiny, blurred pony before me. "Rarity?" I asked, getting a giggle as an answer which got me to shriek in glee that my friend wasn't dead and glomp her, failing to move her since she was heavier now that her body was completely made of faceted diamond.

"I'm alright, darling. Just...I needed to get rid of my old shell, is all." She looked to the shards I'd been holding indicatively. "Looks to me like my episode was just a part of the maturing cycle of a Crystal Pony and judging by the results," Rarity gave herself a once over with some areas of her body acting as mirrors. "I'd say that not only am I more beautiful than before, but I'm also officially a Crystal Pony!" Silence engulfed the two of us for a moment before we both squealed, excited for similar yet different reasons. I was squealing because my friend was a pony made of crystals which meant I could learn about Crystal Pony physiology and Rarity was squealing because she was gorgeous and now had a goal to refound the Crystal Empire as a peaceful society. Sparks flew off of my horn and bounced off of her coat after her body reflected the light beautifully like a disco ball. "Wait," Rarity stopped suddenly, looking to me pointedly with a raised brow. "You said I'm your friend, right?"

My ears folded back nervously, uncertain of where this was going. "Yeah."

"How about you try, _best_ friend!" And like that, we were squealing and giggling all over again before my dad came in with Spike hanging from his neck and with my saddlebags.

"Quiet down, you two, or you'll disturb all of Canterlot. You two need to go to school and I'm not going to even ask why Rarity's made of shiny gemstones because I know my daughter will give me an hour long lecture otherwise! Now go!" He gave Spike to me and kicked us out of the house to go to school, the rather forward behavior causing Rarity's coat to return to normal along with her mood. With that out of the way and with Spike asleep on my back, we made our way to my school.

"Twilight, darling," Rarity began curiously. "You said I could give the Crystal Empire a clean slate by refounding it. Do you really think I could do that?" She looked to me as we strolled through the busy streets of Canterlot.

"Of course I did. You tolerated me enough to be my best friend and you're able to calm down Spike who gets rowdy even when I try, so you should be able to do just about anything." I answered earnestly. If, when we're at school, we study on the Crystal Empire to figure out what they did right and what they did wrong, we could set up a plan to refound it as a peaceful society that can stand on its own hooves. However, we'd need to research the science, magic and culture of the Crystal Ponies so none of that dies out unless it's morally wrong and then we'd need to find the resources, volunteers, funding and land to set up a suitable colony. Hmm..." Sucking on my bottom lip, Rarity placed a hoof on my shoulder to ease my mind.

"Let's worry about that after we get to your school and get me a pass, darling. Never cross a bridge or peek around a corner until you're there." She said, getting me to nod and run into the young, lime green unicorn stallion I recognized from class. He was a head taller than me and he had a white mane that matched splendidly with his cerulean eyes. Looking down at me, his eyes narrowed slightly which made me blush out of embarrassment and 'another' reason.

His cutie mark was a red pentagram and a black pot, not-so-subtly hinting at his inherent knowledge into the occult and supernatural. "H-Hi, Cauldron. S-Sorry for bumping into you..." Ears folded back, I rubbed my left foreleg awkwardly, nervous underneath his piercing gaze.

"...Good morning, _Crown Heir_." He said bitterly, his teeth grit but I didn't care. My face was hot and my heart was pounding. _He noticed me! He's talking to me! EEEEEE!_ Although I knew he was mean, I didn't care and I always just chocked it up to stress and the loneliness that I suffered from so I always fantasized that he'd be nice to me if I tried to interact with him. Today I had actually had the nerve to speak to him! "How are you doing today?!" There was venom in his voice, but I ignored it in my foalhood fantasy as I reveled in the knowledge that he was _talking to me!_

"I-I'm doing pretty good. This is my b-best friend, Rarity Belle. Rarity Belle, meet B-Bubbling Cauldron!" I squeaked the last part out, my voice cracking with puberty which made me cover my mouth since I didn't trust my own voice. Moving to sit myself down for a second to calm my heart before it beat out of my chest, I felt Spike crawl off of my back to stand in front of me and hiss at Cauldron. "Spike!" I chastised, covering his mouth. "Be nice."

Rarity extended a hoof towards Cauldron which he stared at with narrowed eyes, analyzing her calculatingly before brushing her off with the a 'pfft' leaving his lips. He passed her by and entered the school, ignoring us onward as I stared after him with hearts in my eyes while Rarity glared at his back. After a minute, I got up and put Spike back on my back before leading Rarity to the staff office for a permission pass. The day was looking good and I felt like nothing could go wrong!

We went to the staff office, got a permission pass, went to class and then afterwards, we went straight to the history books in the library to find anything concerning the Crystal Empire. There were things we could learn with what we had and we were going to use it to its fullest extent.

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! Now I know that-*I'm maimed horrendously and agonizingly* (I WAS TALKING! WHY?! *Anime cries*) Okay, now that my execution's over, I can finally finish _talking!_ Twilight's crush on an asshole's not unheard of in the fact that everyone, and I do mean _everyone_ , finds themselves crushing on someone whose presence is bad for them. This is especially true in youth, around the time where we're discovering our sexual orientation as well as our preferences. Ya'll wanna know _how_ we figure out what we like and what we hate?

It's by makin' mistakes with our crush(es) and significant other(s). Next issue everyone's gonna slaughter me for: Rarity and Twilight's emotional situation. They're young girls, plain and simple. At the age of twelve to fourteen, girls go through something only they can understand for the first time in their lives and their bodies are changing in ways that cause their chemistry to go all sorts of 'WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE DOING?!'.

For instance, I knew a girl who was actually shouting at her uterus for even existing during her first period because she was hurting like a bitch! (No worries, I've been given full permission and I'm keeping her name secret so this information's innocuous.) That's not the only reason why people will kill me, oh no! That'd be too simple! Rarity's emotional issue with her ancestry is actually something all of us would have issues with. Imagine you found out your deceased great-grandmother had been a genocidal maniac or your grandfather had been a serial killer. Not gonna go any deeper than that 'cause I know if I do it's gonna get darker and letting it settle in will do it's job.

No one'd be able to take the news that they're descended from a citizen of a society built on the hundreds of bodies of casualties from conquests and the slavery of war prisoners. That would damage your emotional standing unless you're incapable of feeling. Rarity's taking that actually _unanaturally_ well since Twilight gave her ideas, but most people would take hours and it's not gonna leave Rarity's thoughts for a while, either. Final thing everyone's gonna crucify me for: Spike's speaking Equish (Gonna explain that later, fuckers; be patient!) after only a week.

As has been established, Spike's intelligent even if his infantile chemistry makes it hard to do most of the things he'd like to. His ability to speak Draconic's 'cause he's practiced his first language for so many millennium that he can pick it back up within a short time period after hatching again. Equish is, let's be frank, a pony version of English which is why Spike has trouble speaking it. He speaks English, not the pony-fied version of a language he already knows. And it's not the terms that make it difficult, it's the 'texture' of the language.

Just because a horse can speak English doesn't mean you can say 'hi' the way it does because your vocal cords aren't designed too. Spike's immortal and has learned to speak Equish several times, but it's not his first language and he doesn't feel the need to speak a language he can understand when he can relearn it in each new and contemporary incarnation of the language he encounters. If you're reborn with an older version of the language you're being taught and you can still speak the older version, you're gonna have a bitch of a time relearning the language from scratch 'cause you've gotta forget _everything you learned before!_

The reason he can say Twilight's name so easily's 'cause she's been trying to get him to say her name for a week and he's able to control his body in certain, limited ways. Draconic is a language made up of hisses, growls, roars and snarls that are basically animal noises even at birth but when a dragon grows up, they begin to focus those sounds into words like any intelligent creature's language. He's intelligent and has learned how to control his body enough to talk coherently, if a little weakly due to low control after rebirth. Relearning a language for the first time isn't easy and it's gonna be a pain if I get shit for 'rushing the story'!

Before anyone EVEN FUCKING SAYS THAT, this chapter's rough draft had been chocked full of so much exposition and forced progression it would've made Micheal Bay and M. Night Shyamalan proud to mistake me for their unwanted, failure-to-abort, bastard child! So if anyone says I rushed the plot, let me tell you that this was the most plot-light iteration of this chapter I've made in the last month.

With all of that shit outta the way, I'm done talking so (As always: Thanks for being here, R&R, no flaming my ass, constructive criticism an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)


	3. Shimmering Stones

Whaz up ladies, gents and other! Still waiting on reviews, so not much to say 'sides this story's still gonna be chunky with how rough it'll feel with my writing style and the fact that I don't own anything in this story except for any original characters and this story itself.

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal Speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

 **Rarity's POV**

We were studying in the library, Twilight was researching the chemistry of addictions since she was on assignment to try and figure out a solution to alcoholism. I, on the other hoof, was studying the Crystal Empire. If I wanted to give the Crystal Empire and its citizens a fresh start, I needed to know everything there was to know. However, there weren't as many books on it as I would've liked. Most of them were repeating legends and were rarely based on truth. Sighing irritably, I thought to myself, _Centuries can do that to a civilization, I guess. Maybe Twilight knows of a certain section with better references?_ "Twilight, darling," I began, getting her attention easily. "Do you know of a part of the library with a more concrete source of information concerning the Crystal Empire or is all there is in the entire school?"

A hoof to her chin, I waited patiently before she pointed that same hoof to the ceiling. "Under history in the Restricted Section, but you need a fourth level pass and I don't have access to one of those seeing as I'm a first year."

"Darn, I was really-" I was interrupted by a voice echoing in my mind, the voice sounding like a stallion in his prime.

 _DON'T TOUCH THAT, SILVERCLAW! Do you know what it'll do to you?!_ The voice said, his tone dire.

Looking back and forth in search for the source of the voice, I asked, "Did you hear that?!" Twilight shook her head, giving me an odd look when we heard a gasp from behind Twilight. We looked and saw Spike was on fire and Bubbling Cauldron was trying to put the emerald flames out with a fire extinguisher. "Spikey-Wikey!" I said worriedly as Twilight ran up to the whelp and made to wake him up.

"Unless you want to burn to death, don't touch it!" Cauldron commanded, getting Twilight to back up as the voice persisted.

 _You can't control the power that thing has! Don't do this! We can win the war without this pointless sacrifice._ Another voice suddenly surfaced, arguing against the stallion's.

 _'Useless'?! I'm going to end the war against Sombra after three gods damned decades! Unless you've an alternative, this is the only way._ The new voice was also male, only slightly older than the other voice.

 _The plan to assassinate Sombra's still viable, just put the artifact down and come back to camp. Diamond Shiv doesn't need to lose her husband to something that's supposed to be a last resort._ Cauldron's extinguisher did its job and snuffed the green fire but the voices didn't desist.

 _She's the reason I'm fighting in this war at all, Brother! I have to do this so our children might live without a tyrant stepping on them. I_ have _to do this. Don't you understand that?_ Silverclaw, as that was the name the other voice addressed him as, demanded with his voice choking up.

 _There's another way, Silverclaw. There's always an alternative and you're just not seeing it. Just like the Fairies-_

 _Don't you_ dare _insult their memory by calling them blind to the alternatives! They were greater than what our father had done with the place._

A roar escaped the unnamed brother of Silverclaw, this roar sounding primal and devoid of reason. _YOU INSOLENT VERMIN! I SHOULD SHRED TO BITS LIKE THE WARM-BLOODED PREY YOU'VE LET YOURSELF BECOME!_

 _Oh,_ Silverclaw began, getting me to hold my head as it started to ache gravely until I fell unconscious on the floor. _Is that a challenge, little brother? Then BRING IT ON!_

 **Dreamlands**

A column of stone touched the clear skies before a pillar of hot and cold appeared on top of it with me trapped in the middle of the two opposing energies, trapping me in the resulting fog. The source of the temperature were two individuals I had no recollection of. One of them spoke, a tall, bipedal feline with striped blue fur and a pair of bird-like, furred wings. "Little Brother, I'm sorry that we must fight but I won't hold back when I know this is the only way we can save the country from Sombra's conquest..." He muttered, his voice matching that of Silverclaw's. He wore armor, nothing like that of any soldier I'd ever seen but that wasn't unheard of today. The armor emphasized his torso's muscles, holding itself tight around his midsection as a vest that glinted in the sunlight due to its metallic nature.

He wore shiny bracers that were connected to clawed gauntlets that were of a similar silver-colored metal. Adorning her legs were a pair of tight, military-grade pants that tucked into boot-like foot coverings that fit each toe individually. On his back was a half-scabbard that held the length but not the entirety of a long, curved blade. Its edges were colored lightly while the rest was darkly colored in contrast. There were small protrusions near the top of the blade while near the hilt was a musical note symbol. The blade's guard was a large metal claw that extended over the flat of the blade and went around the grip as a barrier to protect the wielder's hands. Feathers made of metal and ice grew out of the claw, three of them to be exact.

The feline had eyes the color of charcoal, slitted and near-sighted like small cats yet the creature was obviously a large cat judging by the roar it released in challenge to his brother who was hidden by the fog. Said brother took a step forward, the stone beneath him cracking as a ferocious snarl escaped him. "Silverclaw," Began the unnamed brother. "This isn't the way things should end, but if I have to beat sense into you then so be it!" His voice was deep and resonating, quite familiar in some way that I didn't understand.

Silverclaw turned his eyes passively to me and I felt them stare right through me and into my soul for the briefest second before he smugly said, "Let's put on a show for our audience, little brother." A sound of curiosity directed me to find glowing, slitted green eyes staring at me through the fog as the temperature fluxed with these two power houses' battling auras.

"Hello sister." The unnamed brother said, his words said in my general direction.

"Hello brother." Responded a female voice from beside me, getting me to start in surprise at her sudden appearance at my side. Beside me stood a hairless simian, a female if I remembered the similarities between apes and fawn in physiology. Well, the term hairless wasn't entirely accurate. She had hair but only on her head, where it reached down to about mid thigh as a pair of pigtails held up by blue-white ribbons tied into flower shapes with cow bell-like ornaments hanging from them. Garbed in a military vest with several pockets over a tight-fitting, insulated nylon shirt that had a matching arctic camouflage pattern as her overalls which had knee and shin guards sewn into them.

 _Her seamstress used a sturdy patch stitch to keep the guards in place as well as keep the aesthetic intact. Good to know that even in the military there are experts in both fashion and function._ Some of her pockets had seemingly random, small objects that upon closer inspection revealed themselves to be charms of varying strengths that I'd seen around churches or shrines to Celestia.

"It's been awhile, little sister." Silverclaw said nostalgically, drawing his sword and striking it into the stone at his feet. "Have you decided to beat 'sense' into me too, or are you merely making sure neither of us kills the other?"

"The latter, Silverclaw. What you're planning on doing is madness." She said this with a straight face, her face a blank slate to stare at. Her partially-rounded eyes were bright, cerulean blues that made the skies green in envy on a beautiful day as today. "However, I won't step in unless needed. I'm not strong enough to fight you head on, even with the help of my twin. So...I'll merely wait for my time to strike. Please, begin if you can't talk it out." She then sat herself down next to me before turning her head to look me dead in the eye as I'd laid myself down as well. "Don't worry, dear," She said to me, her eyes closing as she smiled like a little girl. "They'll be fine. They always are in this dream, but when they wake up...Not so much."

"..." My mouth was dry when the fog intensified and flirted with the line between fog and smoke, leaving a foul taste in my mouth as I struggled to think of something to say. I'd thought no one had been aware of my presence, but now..."What's going on?" I asked dumbly, not really sure what else to ask, the sounds of punches being thrown reaching my ears although I ignored it.

She answered simply. "My older brother and my younger, twin brother are fighting over who's right in their argument." I gave her a deadpan expression at the boiling it down to its base elements, making her giggle at the look on my face. "Sorry, I haven't done something like that in a _long_ time. I've still got my jokes! But, to answer your question in a much more detailed sense: we're right now nearing the end of the Crystal War, Sombra's armies have retreated into the Empire's capital and are preparing for a full-on frontal assault from the Equestrian army. At the moment, we're on the tallest tower in the Steppes of Furzeo Carribisho, the island made entirely out of basalt pyres in the ocean West-Southwest of the Crystal Empire's capital on the coordinates-MMPH!" I stopped her abruptly by pressing my hoof to her mouth, stopping her from continuing as I couldn't process all of that in one go.

As I covered her mouth, I rubbed a hoof against my head as an ache started to surface. "You're telling me that we're right now sitting on the Lost Island of the Moon, spoken of only in story books, in the North Luna Sea. Forgive me because I'm truly sorry, but this sounds way too far fetched to be my imagination." I stated firmly, doubt in my eyes.

Removing my hoof from her mouth, she held it in her fingered hands while her eyes held stars. "Oh, so you're actually aware that you're dreaming? That's rare these days. Normally the Nightgaunts just go out, tickle a few unsuspecting victims and then fly them out here, but you..." She got incredibly close to me, dodging a chunk of stone that flew between our heads. "You're actually dreaming and aware that you are! That's an awesome sign!"

"Why? And what does my lucid dreaming have anything to do with this war? And what the hay are 'Nightgaunts'?! And how-"

"In due time." She interrupted, a finger over my lips. "We'd best get to a safer distance before the boys start using their full strength on each other." Her words didn't register at first before the tower we were on started to shake with a few of the columns making it up shattering.

"Okay!" I nodded, following after her as she ran her naked feet across the cold basalt. "How can you be barefoot on this ground?! I'm losing feeling in my hooves and yet you're just fine running without anything to cover them! How?!"

Turning to look at me, she ran backwards and told me, "As I said, all in due time. Now, this should be far enough." We skidded to a halt and turned to find the tower was starting to crumble into an odd shape of a house. "Oh, thousands of years hasn't changed this place a bit!" The girl said, walking into the little shack without any concern for the two males fighting as I followed in after her, afraid to get caught in the fighting that took place within the fog.

"I've read several guides on how the Dreamlands work," I said slowly, closing the door behind me with my hooves as I knew my magic wouldn't work without my body being here too. "But in all my dreams, never have I encountered someone whose consciousness is aware its in a world where dreaming takes place and that there are others who are dreaming! Who the hay are you?!"

A sigh escaped the girl. "You're a lot more lucid than the others I've encountered in my time here, you know? It's almost enough to make me worry or bring tears to my eyes. Anyway, I can't answer your question yet, but I can give you this before you wake up." She said this and turned around holding a metal headband that had a carved and polished basalt gemstone in it. Without wasting time, no doubt noticing that I was becoming less visible as I started to regain consciousness, she placed it around my head and said finally, "Perfect. Fitting of an empress, no?"

"Empress?" The moment I said that, a hole appeared in the wall where I saw a large, slitted green eye with a scar coming from the forehead down to the cheek. I knew that eye saw right through me but I felt as if it were seeing me which froze the blood in my body as I awoke.

 **School infirmary**

I gasped, rising to a sitting position only to hear a feral hiss coming from the bed at my side. Looking to my right, I saw a wounded Twilight and a bloodied Spike embracing one another, the latter was the source of the hissing as he glared in my general direction. "Spikey wikey," I whispered, getting his hissing to lessen as I got out of the bed and slowly approached them. "What happened to you two?!" He looked towards his caretaker whose eyes were filled with tears as she whimpered before he turned his own to me, getting me to realize that he had a birthmark very similar to the creature in my dream until I shook off the surprise and focused on the situation at hand.

"They hurt my wyrmling and they hurt me for protecting him..." Twilight muttered, choking on her sobs as she continued. "Those were the ones who'd lied about being my friends and they hurt my Spike!" Saying the last part, she turned to me with eyes full of distrust and fear that I'd betray her too, clutching the little dragon whelp close to her as she glared. "Are you going to hurt us too?! Is that why you disappeared earlier?!"

"No, I'd never hurt-Disappeared? Darling, I fell unconscious in the library after Bubbling Cauldron put the fires out on Spike!" Her blackened left eye had swollen but her right eye was squinting in confusion at my words, my eyes shining as I fought off tears of guilt that I hadn't been there for my best friend.

"But...we were in the gardens when Spike burst into flames, weren't we? I remember us walking out of the library because you and I were feeling woozy from standing in there too long so we went outside and then you said you had to freshen up. After that...After that Red Herring and Road Block went after Spike while he was playing, calling him a freak and a monster!" Tears welled up in her eyes, feeling guilty that she hadn't been able to stop them from hurting her hatchling obviously eating away at her as her salty tears dripped over the open cut on her left cheek, getting her to wince as she unintentionally literally salted her wound. "I talked them down and then they...they started hurting us! They tried to take him away from me, he cried...he cried for me!" She broke down, coddling her wyrmling close as she rolled over so her bruised and cut up back was facing me to protect her baby.

"Twilight," I said seriously, anger in my eyes that my best friend and her child had been hurt. "Show me who did this to you and I _swear_ they will pay dearly! I swear this to you!" To emphasize my point, I slammed my cleft hoof onto the tiled floor and cracked it with my strength. "They won't get away with this if I have anything to say about it! You said their names were 'Red Herring' and 'Road Block', were there any others?" I moved to stand in front of her face, looking her in the eyes with the desperation to smite those who'd hurt such an innocent filly and her wyrmling.

She sniffled, wiping her nose with the pillow, still clutching Spike close to her core in case I were lying to her. "Y-Yeah...Senor Jumble, Ghost Hunter, and Marcella were there too. I think one of them even cracked my horn!" Her voice cracked at the last part, getting my eyes to widen as I inspected her horn closely to find that it had been fractured by a nasty stomping from someone larger than her.

Steeling my resolve, my coat hardened and darkened to a nightmarish black-purple as my cutie mark faded from visibility, the opposite of the dream-like white coat or my diamond cutie mark which I normally praised myself on. "I'm going to find them myself and make them pay for what they did to you, darling." I said menacingly, causing me to fight off a shiver at the ease I found myself saying that. Twilight's eyes met mine before she noticed the headband I had on, my horn fitting into a ring at its center while the once black basalt became a bright white reminisce of my natural coat color. "No one hurts an empress' subjects and gets away with it!" Again, I resisted the urge to shiver at the ice cold rage in my voice and how easy it was to say it with such dark plans in mind. _Note to self: avoid getting this angry at all costs after this! End note._

"'Empress'?" Twilight shuddered, getting me to nod my head regally.

"As you told me earlier today, I can refound the Crystal Empire as a peaceful civilization. An empire must have a leader, and the word for an empire's female leader is empress." I explained, turning towards and through the doorway before taking one, last look at Twilight and Spike. "I'll place a spell here to protect you but, if you can, please project a barrier around yourselves to keep yourselves safe." Finished speaking, I went on my way to finding these hooligans who'd dare hurt my subjects; my best friend and her dragon! _Where are you, you five insects?_ I thought to myself, searching the halls.

The school day obviously hadn't ended for the afternoon classes if the clocks saying two o'clock were anything to go by. By some stroke of luck, I came across a colt with a cutie mark in the shape of a cinder block walking beside a young mare without any cutie mark at all. "Haha! Do you wanna hit the dragon-lover and her 'child' again?!" Those words caught my attention, getting me to glare at the mare as she said that. In that moment, I memorized everything I could about these two ponies as they approached me.

Road block, as that was most likely him if his cutie mark was anything to go by, was an obese little colt with short legs and a bit of a long neck. His horn was visible due to his baldness and was stubby but he obviously had use for it if he was a student here. _Or he complained to his rich father to get him into this school..._ I postulated, shaking it off as I glared into him. Coat the color of mud and eyes the color of the sky, I noticed that he was walking with a slight limp that appeared to be a damaged left foreleg. _Good job, darling! You marked my target._

The mare was a generous orange, her horn was longer than the average unicorn but her body was mediocre enough for her to blend in. She had a yellow mane and violet eyes I would blacken with my hooves. She too was walking awkwardly, but less of a limp and more of a wheezing with what I assumed were broken ribs from a back kick from Twilight. "Sure, Marcella!" Roadblock said excitedly, bobbing in place before I made my move. I dashed in front of him and slammed a cleft hoof into his wounded leg, causing the sound of a snap to resound in the hallway.

Before either one had a chance to react, I punched Marcella in the other side of the ribs, getting those too to break. I looked them over as they suddenly scream in pain, tears leaving Road Block's eyes while Marcella whimpered like a foal. _Maybe I should leave them with a lasting memory of who I am. Maybe I should make it last_ permanently _?_ And I did just that, grabbing their hind legs and twisting, I sent the two of them flying into the wall where I heard more snapping occur as they damaged the masonry before I dashed to find the rest of my targets. _Two down, three to go._

I found another one in the gardens, only he was being interrogated by Shining Armor and Bubbling Cauldron, of all ponies. Sneaking into the gardens in broad daylight, I hid in the bushes and listened to the two of them, "Did you take care of the others?" Shining Armor asked, getting his companion to shake his head.

"I haven't found any sign of Marcella, Red Herring, Senor Jumble or Road Block. I've only found Ghost Hunter, here, who will no doubt be _expelled_ when this is over!" Cauldron finished his statement through gritted teeth, glaring Hell at Ghost Hunter. She was a small filly, eyes full of fear and head clearly full of delusions as she shivered and wet herself. This was no honored student of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, this was a spoiled brat! From the doors inside burst a baby blue mare I recognized as one of the teachers wearing a starry cape and a pointed hat, breathing heavily as she spoke.

"Bubbling Cauldron, Shining Armor, oh thank Celestia I've found you. Trixie found Road Block and Marcella in the hallway, embedded in the wall with broken limbs and broken ribs. Come on!" She said this hastily, getting the two males to chase after her worriedly.

 _Darn, I left too big of a mess with those two. I'd better figure out where the other two are from Ghost Hunter..._ My thought finished, I strolled out of the bushes like a phantom, my hooves leaving deep indents in the soil but I didn't care. "Your accomplices, where are they?!" I demanded, slamming my hoof into the dirt right in front of Ghost Hunter, embedding it in the dirt before pulling it out and leaving a hole about as deep as my foreleg was long. The filly shivered, emptying her bowels out of fear of the atmosphere I surrounded myself in. "Answer me!"

"Jumble and Red left school grounds! They said they were going out to get lunch, please don't hurt me!" She begged, getting me to glare daggers at her to be silent.

Turning my nose into the air and strolling away haughtily, I looked back with the eyes of a dangerous mare and said sinisterly, "You're of little use, scum, go back to whatever prison cell Shining Armor pulled you out of that you call home." She nodded, body pale and eyes leaking tears as she sobbed in fear of me. _I think I overdid it! I'll apologize to her la-Wait a moment, NO! I won't apologize for bringing my friend justice._

Finished with that thought, I ran back to the infirmary to check up on Twilight and Spike. When I got there, my coat had returned to its natural glossy beauty although I felt as if it were marred by the filth of those who'd dared hurt my best friend, and I found the two of them were sound asleep, getting me to smile as I got a wet towel and began to wipe away what blood the nurse had missed. After a little while, the three who had gone to find Road Block and Marcella came in, dragging in the two wounded parasites!

Shining pulled Road Block in by his broken and bent legs, getting the colt to sob at the pain before he was dropped in front of Twilight's bed, waking the two occupants and receiving a damning glare from a tearing up Twilight as well as a feral snarl from the wyrmling she held, fire licking his lips. "This is one of the students who's been bullying you ever since you were admitted to this school?" Shining asked seriously, eyes of an older brother who would got to Hell for his little sister. "Is he?!" He demanded, getting Twilight to nod and cry at the anger in her big brother's voice.

"Wimp." Marcella and Road Block said as one, getting Shining to flip open his spiked guard's large, fearsome, not-so-hidden claw in the little colt's direction while Cauldron back kicked the mare in the stomach. Both methods silenced the individual bully before a grey, bearded earth pony came through the infirmary doors wearing an old, dusty coat with a scarf acting as a tie. His cutie mark was a shattered hourglass and his tired eyes the color of freshly tilled soil. Black hooves, short and untamed tail, and finally, a well kept mane were the most easily recognized parts to this stallion.

Behind him stood a grey pegasus with a long, braided yellow mane and tail. Her feathers were like those of an owl, tail feathers and wing feathers, as she wrapped an eye patch over her left eye while she glared at the two students who'd bullied my friend. "Watch Reader," The pegasus mare began, her voice sweet, silky and melodically soothing. "Should we be interfering with this?"

"Of course, Ms. Hooves!" Responded the now named Watch Reader. "There's someone from out of town interfering with this filly's life and I'm going to figure out who. But first," He said, approaching the two bullies individually. Slowly, his aged, tired eyes cast them into their own shadows out of shame as he gave them the eyes of a disapproving grandfather. "These two must be dealt with. Where are your cohorts?"

I piped up at that moment, "Ghost Hunter said they went out to get lunch and judging by the way they were acting so casual about putting a _baby dragon_ and his _caretaker's_ life at risk, I'm going to go so far as to say they're planning on coming back to share their lunch to bask in the glory of hurting my best friend and her charge!" My eyes bore into those of the two bullies, their faces paling as they recognized the eyes I'd given them in that split second we'd made eye contact. "Am I wrong, _insects?!_ " Demanding the last part, I slammed my hardening hoof into Road Block's belly which made him cough up blood onto my face and got me to glare at him with the eyes of a devil. Cauldron telekinetically handed me a towel with which I wiped away the blood Road Block had coughed up.

"You're right!" Marcella whimpered, curling up into a ball out of fear as we all glared at her. "They should be back any minute now." She lowered her head, ears folded backwards as Twilight rose out of her sick bed with Spike climbing down beside her.

Twilight muttered, her voice rising as she addressed the one who'd pretended to be her friend. "Something you told me keeps ringing in my ears, Road Block...You told me that a true, _true_ friend helps a friend in need. So tell me then, does the fact that I couldn't help you prank our teacher make me a bad friend..." She left it hanging there as she stared blankly, coldly into the little, shaking colt's eyes. "Or does the fact that you're a terrible pony make me a bad friend?" Next she went to Marcella, staring into her eyes the same way she did for Road Block. "You called me a freak, but now you've got to ask yourself..." She leaned down and whispered into the frightened mare's ear, "Does a freak have friends who will come to her aid?"

With her piece spoken, she held Spike close and told everyone to leave the room. Of course, we all did although I left incredibly hesitantly especially when I heard her choke up and quietly cry into her wyrmling. _I need to make sure the other two don't make the mistake of hurting her ever again. But I can't, not with Shining Armor around. If I do, he'll have to arrest me because I'm a civilian and not a member of the militia or the Royal Guard...mmf!_ I internally groaned, glaring at the two bullies crossly.

"Where were you planning to meet after they came back with lunch?" Shining demanded levelly, his eyes cold and unreadable. "The garden? The library? A classroom?" He strode forward, bumping into the baby blue unicorn mare who looked worriedly to his sides and to Watch Reader and Ms. Hooves, only getting a shake of the head from the bearded stallion.

"We were planning to meet back in the gardens to eat lunch, acting like nothing happened would reinforce our innocence if the fre-OW!" Marcella was interrupted by a swift punch to the chest from Trixie.

"She isn't a freak, you cretin!" The teacher said fiercely, angry that she'd taught these two anything at all now that she saw what they really were. "She's one of the brightest students I've taught in the ten years I've taught at this school and the fact that you'd go so far as to push her this far is utterly _despicable!_ If you two aren't punished as harshly as you hurt her by the end of this, I'll personally see to it you're not only expelled but I'll ride the both of you on this your _entire lives_ just in case you forget along the way..." Glaring at the now wide-eyed bullies, she turned away with a huff, flicking her tail into the students' faces sharply. Although I couldn't hear the specifics of what she was saying, I knew she was muttering very angrily under her breath.

"Ms. Trixie?" I asked, coming up to stroll alongside her as we made our way as a group to the gardens, looking to her curiously.

"Yes, dear?" She replied, looking to me kindly, obviously all too happy to change her focus from the two miscreants behind us.

"Unlike Shining Armor and I; Bubbling Cauldron, Mr. Watch Reader, Ms. Hooves and yourself have no deep connection to Twilight. So, might I ask, why are you of all ponies so angry when your interaction with her is limited to merely answering her questions in class?" She stumbled slightly, sidestepping me as she nearly fell on top of me, when I asked her that.

Her response came in several 'um's and 'er's before Ms. Hooves interjected, "She, Watch Reader and I have all learned a lot in our pasts about how to see where a pony's going to end up in their life based on their potential and their actions. In Ms. Sparkle's case, we've seen that she's going to go far with her friends helping her through the thickest of troubling batters life throws her way. One of those friends, dear Rarity, is you." Finished speaking, she received an appreciative smile from Trixie before coming to walk beside her and start up a quiet conversation. "Oh," Ms. Hooves said as if struck by a memory. "Watch Reader, don't forget to call Tardy in case everything...well, you know." She said that cryptically, getting the stallion to nod appreciatively.

"I won't forget, Ms. Hooves. Thank you all the same." He said plainly, getting Shining Armor to turn his attention to the older stallion.

Slowing down, Shining strode beside the earth pony. "Although I'm thankful for the help, I'm going to want an explanation of what your friend said about seeing where a pony's going to end up in their life." He said loud enough for all of us to hear, when we reached the gardens to find two students dancing around like fools with a filly around my age sitting in the doorway confusedly.

"We shut her up!" Sang a red mare, her horn being hooked at the end and dripping blood in a manner that made my coat harden and turn me nearly invisible out of fear. As that happened, I felt Trixie place a comforting hoof on my shoulder which got me to return to normal although my coat was still stiff with discomfort at the hooked horn. The mare's mane was a revolting shade of brown and her cutie mark was that of a skinny, dancing fish.

Dancing beside her on his forelegs was a stallion-"Jumble!" Cauldron shouted, teeth grit in his square jaw as he huffed and entered the gardens with an air around him of a stallion on a mission. "You said that you weren't going to hurt anyone, but here I find you, blood on your hooves and dripping from your marefriend's horn like a pair of criminals. Explain yourself!"

"Oh, look who's here, Herring! My big brother's here to teach me what we did wrong." The stallion was a peach color, his horn was jagged and unappealing to look at, as was his crooked smile. Cutie mark being what looked like a word jumble with the word 'junior' being circled, and the way his voice rang in my ears only emphasized how pathetic this male was. He carried himself with such arrogance that he'd give Trixie's entrances a run for her money, although whenever said teacher entered the classroom with pyrotechnics going off in such a controlled way it was no wonder most students loved being taught by her. Senor Jumble's appearance was sub par compared to, say Shining Armor, Bubbling Cauldron was somewhat attractive and even Watch Reader had a strange, aesthetic appeal about him that I couldn't ignore.

However, this stallion that called himself Cauldron's brother was not even remotely attractive. Mane a mess like he'd just gotten out of bed and had let rats crawl about in it, he walked in a circle around the other stallion in the gardens, acting as if he was _cool!_ "Don't patronize me, bastard. Why'd you attack Sparkle if you know that she's the Princess' protege? Are you trying to get yourself arrested?!" Came Cauldron's response, getting Shining to step in with the eyes of a soldier hardened in battle as he pulled two magic suppression rings from out of his armor.

"Under orders, you're to be taken in for questioning after which you'll both go to trial for attempted murder and treason. Don't resist if you know what's good for you." He said flatly, eyes devoid of emotion as he readied himself for anything when the two unicorns teleported passed the fence at the edge of the garden where a steep drop was found. "STOP!" It was too late, however, as the sound of two unicorns hitting the stone brick roads beneath was heard while a commotion began.

The rest of us just stared in shock at what had happened. A couple had just commit suicide after being placed under failed arrest for failed murder. I could barely understand what was going on after that, letting my coat lose all color as I became nearly invisible and made my way back to the infirmary. All I'd wanted was justice for my friend, death hadn't been a part of the equation until I realized that had I taken more time attacking Marcella or Road Block... _I would've killed them. I'd have been no better than my ancestors!_ Shock was all I felt from the gardens to the infirmary, where I entered and got into a bed to just lay there, staring at the ceiling in utter shock at what had happened.

"Rarity." Twilight said, not quite to me but not quite to herself. "Rar-"

"Rar-" Spike mimicked.

"-Ity." Came Twilight's voice, this time with a smile audible in her words.

"-Ity." Spike parroted, my eyes widening as he said the next word. "Rarity! Rarity! Rarity! Rarity! Rarity!" My already wide eyes widened as I leaped out of the bed and caught the pair in a hug and wept my eyes out. "Rarity?"

"You were wrong, Twilight...I'm the same as my ancestors! When I attacked Road Block and Marcella, I thought about killing them without a second's hesitation! I would've killed them had I not been rushing!" I wept into Twilight's coat, thankfully my tears didn't fall on any of her cuts. "You were wrong, darling! I'm the exact same as my ancestors: I wound and frighten any I don't like. Red Herring and Senor Jumble committed suicide when your brother told them they were under arrest...Sure they deserved to be punished but...I didn't ask for _that!_ " I sobbed, getting Twilight to hold me comfortingly as I continued rambling on about everything that had happened after I'd woken up in the infirmary.

After a few minutes my tears dried up and I was tired, poor Spike was confused, sniffing and licking away my tears like the infant he was. "Rarity, you didn't kill them and you couldn't have stopped those two had you tried. Believe me, they're powerful and no amount of your diamond hooves would've stopped them." I continued whimpering, the knowledge that I could've killed still being a huge shock to my system. Several minutes later, a knock came at the door which opened to reveal the filly I'd seen earlier with a bouquet of flowers wrapped up in plastic. When I looked, I saw the filly-correction-young mare in all her glory. Red, yellow and orange dancing in her mane and tail, the gentle angles that defined her jaw were soft much like my own.

She was taller than Twilight and I, but she didn't seem all that stuck up about her metaphorical leg up over us. "Hi there, I'm sorry I wasn't here to greet you when you first got here, Miss Sparkle..." Her ears were folded back awkwardly, smiling guiltily. "But, I'll be the first to tell you that not all of us here are as cruel as them. So, to make up for that oversight on my end, I'd like to say that my name is Sunset Shimmer and, minus the bullies, you're life here will be great. And before you start choking up, please know that I'll be here if you need any help since you're not the Princess' only protege here."

Twilight chuckled, getting me to look at her oddly before I noticed that there were some prescription, endorphin supplements that explained the chuckling as she got out of bed and hugged her senior student of the Princess. "I've got friends! Hehehehehe!"

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That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! Okay, I'm ready this time...*Claps sword against shield* BRING IT ON-EHCK! *I'm anally impaled by steaks made of rough wood by my viewers* *Garbled, pained sounds are emitted by my vocal cords* Alrighty...anyone else? *A bomb is dropped on me, frying my skin as I'm atomized into oblivion* I WAS KIDDING! I'm sorry people hate me and-*A grenade is thrown at me before I toss it back into the crowd where it explodes on someone*

OKAY! I'm gonna try to explain what the fuck I just did...First thing people killed me for: Rarity's crystal coat. Before you ask, I've actually bounced my ideas off of the fandom, close friends who know the definition of "tell me what you think without any honey on the hatchet, okay?". The idea to have Rarity's coat be crystalline without being in the Empire's capital is something my friends and my talk-to-strangers agreed was an interesting idea that was improved by the color change based on emotion.

Secondly, the dreamlands thing...this is something that any of my "veteran" readers will understand I enjoy incorporating into my stories as I'm a fan of both anime and the Lovecraft Mythos. Dreams usually tell you a lot about characters or they play an important part of the plot. In my stories, I try to make it so they do both. This time was more plot-related than character based.

Thirdly...AHCK! *I'm shot repeatedly* The Doctor Whooves references and characters. Oh, I know someone's gonna send me a reason for suicide after this. Just like A Jinchuuriki and a Hanyou...Anyways, Doctor Who and Whooves has told us that a lot changes with each regeneration, meaning that Watch Reader's aged appearance and to-the-point personality's completely valid. Ms. Hooves *ahem* Ditzy/Derpy *ahem* wears an eye patch to hide her walleye and has braided her hair to change her appearance in subtle ways to stop a paradox from resulting. Trixie...oh, the Great and Powerful Trixie being a teacher's gonna make people rabid. As much as I'd like to explain that, I shouldn't 'cause it'll be potentially explained in story.

Fourthly, the numerous OCs. MLP is made up of not just the main cast, ya'll. It's a show completely made up of OCs keeping your brain distracted with colors and appearance so you/your kids don't get bored with staring at just a few named ponies in each shot. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the show, but I can't create a potentially long-lasting story with _only_ the main cast.

Fifthly, Sunset Shimmer. Oooooooohhhh...I really do/don't wanna explain this bit...Oh I know I'm on someone's shit list! Sixthly, my sister offered to make eggs and rice for dinner while I was finishing up this chapter so haters can shut the fuck up 'cause my belly's happy!

So (As always: Thanks for being here, R&R, no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism, an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)


	4. Mi Amore Sunset Armor

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! Still no reviews and this story's still gonna seem pretty jarring until I can work myself into the characters' heads. One thing I know people might get on my case about is the terminology that I've used. Until recently, I didn't know how equines matured. So, I'm not going to retcon anything I've said concerning the terms and I won't change the terms I use just yet, but be aware that I've realized my error and that I understand that after 4 years a filly is considered a mare while after 3 years a colt is now a colt. I don't own MLP or anything else I involve in this story.

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

 **Next day (** **General POV)**

Twilight was studying in the infirmary, shifts being taken to guard her by those who'd gone after the bullies. Right now was Trixie's turn which she used to the fullest, helping Twilight with her studies where she needed it. "Ms. Lulamoon, why aren't golems used in today's society? Wouldn't they act as better guards than mortal ponies?"

A smile came to her teacher's face, shaking her head as she sat in front of Twilight's bed with a cup of tea. "If we used golems, Twilight, there would be no point in having guards at all. Golems are nearly unstoppable which is why they were used at all in the past, however problems arose from having lifeless, inanimate materials being given a form of sapience. For one, the golems weren't intelligent enough to follow some of the more complicated commands. For two, golems can't supply creatures like ourselves with social interaction which is a necessity for ponies to remain healthy in both mind and spirit. Imagine what it would be like if you were being protected by lifeless walls of stone, able to talk to the walls if you wanted to but unable for them to talk back and give you any form of psychological stimulation. Would you be very happy in a situation where you're safe but all alone?"

"No." Twilight answered simply, thinking on her teacher's words after the fact. "I'd be sad and I'd miss talking to others. Well, at least I don't have to worry about that with ponies like you around, huh?" She finished with a chipper smile, the wounds she'd received yesterday healing nicely thanks to the nurse's efforts. Even with her blackened eye and the cuts on her young face, her smile was like a ray of sunshine for the awkwardly blushing Trixie at her student's enamored praise. "Um, Ms. Lulamoon, you're cheeks look red. Are you alright? Are you running a fever? I'm not a doctor but I know a thing or two about medicine, maybe I could help?"

She placed her brow to her teacher's getting the already uncomfortable mare to blush even brighter at the way her student's pure, sweet and young smile made her feel like she were free from any judgement that she'd felt in the past. Twilight backed away and the way she did so caused a flash to appear in Trixie's eyes as the environment changed. "I told you to leave Ponyville, Trixie!" An older, fully matured Twilight Sparkle declared, glaring daggers into the blue mare's heart. "You've hurt too many to be forgiven. Begone, you're not welcome here anymore." The older Twilight turned away sharply, anger dripping off her horn when thunder crashed above their heads like the skies shared the purple mare's feelings.

"Don't do this to me, please! I have nowhere else to go..." Whimpered the Great and Powerful Trixie, running to stand in front of the purple mare who had banished her.

Not even a moment was spared on her as Twilight released a blast of magical energy on the now frightened unicorn before her, passing by her without looking back."You should've thought of that before you enslaved my friends and ran me out of my home. NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

"-get out of my sight?" Twilight asked herself exasperatedly, shaking Trixie from her thoughts. "How could I let it get out of my sight?!" Looking to the filly curiously, Trixie found her rummaging under a small cabinet where a pill bottle had rolled underneath. The purple unicorn was trying to use her horn but she obviously couldn't handle something with magic if she couldn't see what she was trying to hold. After a few more tries, Twilight huffed and tried to force her way underneath the cabinet stubbornly, getting herself stuck with her rear being the only thing she couldn't fit in. Trixie, trying to suppress a laugh at her student's predicament, suddenly realized that Twilight was trying to remove herself from underneath the cabinet with the only sound being grunts and huffs before she conceded defeat. "Ms. Lulamoon..."

"Yes-mmphk! Ahem-Yes, Twilight?"

"I'm stuck." Twilight responded flatly, her tone that of an adventurer who'd met her match in the most anti-climactic manner ever.

Hoof to her chin in mock observation, Trixie tapped her chin thoughtfully before inspecting her student more closely and confirming her student's assumption. "Yes, it would appear that you are stuck, my dear. So the next phase will your assignment: grab the pill bottle and then figure out how to get out so the nurse won't get cross with us for not returning it to where it belongs." She smiled at the way Twilight let that sink in, knowing that her student loved a good challenge and was clever when she had a goal. In this case, the goal was to better her skills by finishing an assignment her teacher gave her.

"Sorry, I just thought maybe it would help you feel better. You're blushing and I thought you might have a fever so I chose to get a medicine for fever reduction and, well...this happened." As she said this, she removed the pill bottle from under the cabinet and passed it back to her teacher who placed it in the only drawer that Twilight had left open. "Alright, I've half-completed this assignment, now I just need to figure out how to escape this predicament." Trixie smiled, the fact that Twilight talked herself through difficulty always came off as adorable and mature in the opinion of the Great and Powerful Trixie.

"Maybe you should think outside of the box. Figure out what you've tried, what you haven't and then try those from most unlikely to most likely." Trixie said encouragingly, chuckling to herself as she grabbed her tea and took a sip. _I'm glad I've had the past ten years in this part of history, I've watched fillies become mares and colts become stallions but..._ Twilight surrounded herself in magic, pulling herself out from underneath the cabinet carefully before setting herself down and looking to her teacher with the biggest smile she'd seen since she'd started recovering from being attacked. _Just seeing these youngsters smile at me with so much adoration and joy...feels like a blessing has been bestowed upon me in an offer of redemption. Thank Celestia I got these past ten years to experience this contentment!_

Her thought finished, Trixie carefully brushed a lock of Twilight's mane aside with the smile of a mare who treasured life, making sure not to hurt the little filly in any way as she began to stroke her head soflty. "Did I do good, Ms. Lulamoon?!" Twilight asked excitedly, bouncing in place before hesitantly accepting the strokes from her teacher and holding the hoof to her undamaged cheek. Answering with only a happy smile and a nod, Trixie didn't say anything for fear her voice would fail her. "..." They remained like that for a few minutes, Trixie holding her hoof to Twilight's unhurt cheek and Twilight holding her teacher's hoof in place, desperation for emotional contact being an obvious cause for this behavior. Eyes closed with a sedate, tranquil expression on her face, Twilight nuzzled into her teacher's hoof. Quietly, Twilight whispered out words that would make her teacher's heart melt. "I'm glad you're my teacher, Ms. Lulamoon."

"So is Trixie!" Trixie said, her smile being mirrored by her student. "So is Trixie, Twilight. I'm so glad that Trixie is your teacher and that Trixie has the chance to see you grow into the best pony you can be. Students who've graduated from my class will tell you that Trixie is probably the sappiest mare you'll ever meet, but Trixie can't help but be that way when she sees such wonderful fillies and colts become successful mares and stallions whose potential has only just begun to be tapped into."

"Are you going to cry, Ms. Lulamoon?" Twilight asked awkwardly, seeing a shimmer in her teacher's eyes. "Because I think there's been enough crying this week." A knock at the infirmary door brought their attention to Sunset Shimmer, carrying a new stack of books for Twilight to study.

Calm and chipper, Sunset entered the infirmary with a smile and closed eyes as she spoke . "Hey Twi, I'm back. The students are getting antsy about your condition, but that's no surprise when-" Opening her eyes and ticing that the Magic Theory/Pyrotechnics/Chemistry teacher had tears brimming in her eyes and Twilight was holding said teacher's hoof to her cheek, she simply asked, "Did you bring Ms. Lulamoon to tears, Twilight?"

The purple filly suddenly removed herself from her teacher's reach and began apologizing profusely, getting her fellow protege of the Sun Princess to bite back a laugh while her former teacher glared at her without any hostility behind it at her teasing the poor filly. However, she couldn't hold back her laughter for long after Twilight began to babble about how motherly Trixie seemed and how she didn't know what else to do since she's staying in the school infirmary for a while. The melodious sound of Sunset's laughter got Twilight to frown in confusion, getting Trixie to answer the question she hadn't asked. "She's just making fun at the situation, Twilight. Sunset, here, is going to be finishing her fourth year here when you begin your second and ever since she discovered how sentimental I get..."

Gasping between laughs, Sunset piped up, putting the books on Twilight's bed. "I can't help myself! She gets so 'mother hen'-like and I just have to poke fun." She took several deep breaths, Twilight guiding her through the process like a nurse would to someone who'd just broken a body part, before returning to a calm demeanor. "Alrighty then. So, I asked what courses you're in but the other students wouldn't say and the teachers were mostly busy grading assignments, which got me to just grab a little bit of everything to make this easier on everyone's end." She pointed out which book was in which subject after that, explaining that she wasn't sure which would be easier to study from. "If some of these don't make sense, ask either myself or Ms. Lulamoon for help."

"Right now I'm just catching up on the studying I missed in Magic Theory which is why Ms. Lulamoon is here, besides watching over me, of course." Twilight had a chipper smile on her face once more, but at the mention of being watched over by another her smile became weaker, reminding her of how far she'd been pushed.

Shimmer, seeing how this was trying on the young filly and how she needed someone closer to her age to connect to, offered, "How about I take watch for the rest of your shift, Ms. Lulamoon? Some of the students are wondering if they can get help with their chemistry work and a few are planning to test out their pyrotechnics-"

"WHAT?!" Trixie interrupted, startling the other two in the room and waking up Spike who had been sleeping on Twilight's pillow until that outburst. "WHO AND WHERE?!"

"Phoenix Keeper, Al Ba and Shark Can in the lab, ma'am!" Without another word, the Great and Powerful Trixie had made her exit minus her regularly planned fireworks show of splendor. "Well, seeing as she's preoccupied with that, how's about I help you study?" She said that as she closed the door, knowing how leaving it open might invite trouble.

A chirping directed her attention to the small wyrmling in Twilight's forelegs. "Sure. Spike, it's alright. You're fine, no one's going to hurt us. Ms. Lulamoon just got excited, is all." Rocking the little wyrm back into relaxation, she climbed back onto her bed and returned to her studying although with the added bonus of a cuddling dragon for a heart close to her chest.

"So," Sunset began awkwardly. "What chapter are you researching? Anything specific or are you just covering your bases for the unit test?"

Her answer came in the form of Twilight shaking her head slowly, levitating the book in front of her senior and directing her attention to the paragraph concerning golems. "Ah, I see, constructs. Okay then, that's something I remember. I think-No, I _know_ that I did a scientific journal on the use of golems in past as well as what their use would do in the modern world. Want me to quiz you on what you know so far?"

"Hmm...Not yet, I'd like to finish this section before I try my hoof at a quiz." Twilight answered, reading each paragraph intently and taking notes in a spiral notebook her parents had bought for her. Spike, merely cuddling his caretaker, stared blankly at the words in the book before he turned his attention to the bright colored unicorn in front of their bed.

"Jacioniv ominak ui svabol? Arutu?" Came the reptile's question, sounding merely like chirps and hisses to the untrained ear.

"Axun, Arutu Qanesc." Twilight answered, her voice sounding like a mixture of garbles and shudders made through her teeth.

Coming closer to the two of them, Sunset lightly blew in Spike's face, getting him to giggle as he tried to resist the strange, tickling sensation and then do the same to her with less than stellar results. A few flames actually left his mouth, but it was snuffed out before it could become an issue for them with "How long did it take you to learn Draconic, Twi? Do you mind if I call you Twi for short?"

A look of surprise came across the filly's face as Sunset and Spike continued blowing each other in the face, resulting in Sunset 'losing' after running out of breath which made little Spike very happy. "You know what Draconic sounds like?"

"As I told you yesterday, you're not the only protege of the Princess. Remember how I said I hadn't been here to greet you when you originally got here, well it's because Princess and I were entertaining diplomats from Dragon's Lift and they didn't speak a lick of Equish. They understood it but they'd long since grown too old to learn new languages. All of the recorded sentient races on Earth find it more and more difficulty to learn new languages as they get older and after a few hundred years, it's nearly impossible to speak a language other than you're own. The diplomats understood us but couldn't speak our language, so seeing as I was acting as a diplomat, I had to be able to understand them. Problem is, hehe, I don't have the knack for speaking other languages."

"Oh." Twilight said dumbly, unsure of how to respond to that as Sunset sat there awkwardly directing her gaze anywhere but into her eyes. "Well, I learned the language in about a week..." She mumbled the last part, getting Sunset to lift an ear as she repeated herself. "A week..." The filly had lowered her head guiltily, expecting insults like 'know-it-all' or 'teacher's pet' as the other students had come to know her as, but instead she got large, adoring eyes as she hugged the confused filly and peppered her with adoring kisses on the head. A blush came to Twilight's face as she stared, dumbfounded.

"YOU'RE PERFECT!" Sunset said excitedly, so giddy she was bouncing on the tips of her hooves. "YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, TWI!" Once again, Twilight was under the onslaught of numerous hugs and adoring pecks on the head with a few extra on her cheeks. Eventually, the dumbfounded Twilight began to turn a new hue of red right before Sunset's eyes. Without any warning, Sunset suddenly opened Twilight's mouth and placed a piece of paper inside said filly's opened mouth which resulted as expected.

Twilight, confused, blushing and mouth now with paper in it, spit out the piece of paper and surrounded herself in a simple, sturdy barrier her brother had taught her. "Why'd you do that?!" Came Twilight's demand, getting a giddy Sunset to pick up the piece of paper which had changed from a folded piece of parchment into a laminated card like sports advertisers would use to create collecting games for extra merchandise. On its cover was an expertly painted image of Twilight with numerous, obvious details appearing around the image such as her gender, race, major power(s), birth date, age and affiliation. In the upper left corner of the card was the number twenty that was visible in the bottom right corner as well.

"Before you ask," Sunset said with a hoof raised knowingly as she inspected the card, her eyes being given lenses in the form of complex and deeply intricate magic circles. "This is a spell I invented to gather information about individuals without having to put yourself out there too much. For instance, instead of spending months gathering information from potentially bunk sources, all you'd need to do is get a decent amount of his genetic material on a folded piece of paper of reasonable size and BOOM!-instant information gathered! It'd save investigators so much time and the best part is that the cards can be updated, too. I'll demonstrate with my own card." Seemingly from nowhere, she pulled a three-ring binder with plastic pages made up of slim pockets made for cards of this size. She flipped through the pages until she came to the first one, passing by several other cards of different ponies and other creatures, where she pulled out a card that had an amazingly painted image of Sunset Shimmer standing in the foreground of a volcanic environment with a vigor in her eyes matched by the nervous smile she wore.

Handing the card to Twilight, she smiled as her 'sister' protege learned about her with those same magic circles appearing over her eyes. "Sunset Shimmer. Age: Sixteen. Gender: Female. Race: Unicorn. Age: 17. Birth date: March 17, 4028. Affiliation: Equestria, Princess Celestia's Court."

"Now watch the information change!" She said excitedly, seeing understanding cross Twilight's face after nothing happened for a few seconds, bobbing in place happily.

"Sunset Shimmer. Age: 18." Twilight said in awe of this spell before returning the card to Sunset's possession. "What else can it tell you about others?"

" _Lots_ , at least in theory. It's still in the experimental phase so I don't know how much data I can get on each individual I use it on. So far I've used it on four unicorns, three pegasi, two earth ponies, one alicorn, four griffons, and five dragons. Well, now there are five unicorns I've used it on. May I use it on little Spike, here?" Emphasizing her words, she scratched his chin like he were a house cat, getting him to growl happily.

"Tir wux tuor ekess qe shafaer vi ollid?" Twilight asked hopefully with Sunset giving him an anticipatory look.

"Thric." Spike answered flatly, not wanting to let his caretaker or her new friend know everything he'd experienced. For his honesty, the two females whined in displeasure with his answer. "Tir ti scadu! Batobot ui ihk ve ekess tir."

Groaning, Sunset blew a puff of solid light into his face irritably, getting him to sneeze a small plume of fire that thankfully didn't catch onto anything. "Fine, you little brat." She said without any bite to her words, the other two in the room knowing she didn't actually mean it. "Anyway, how are your grades looking?"

"I've got all As last time I checked." Twilight said, her eyes never leaving the book she was reading. "On a different note, is Rarity still at my house?"

Biting her lip, Sunset nodded sadly, knowing what was troubling her after Twilight had told her she'd considered killing the bullies. "Yes. She's still left shaken from her discovery of where her thoughts went."

Twilight sighed, eyes heavy as she nuzzled Spike who reciprocated the gesture. "I wish I could council her, but...that's just not my blessing."

 **Twilight's house**

Rarity sat in Twilight's room, hiding in her sleeping bag with her eyes being those of a tired and devastated child. _I could've killed them...I_ wanted _to kill them! How can I be a good pony if I_ want _to kill?_ A knock on the door shook her from her thoughts. "I know it's you, Sub-Lieutenant." Rarity said flatly, never turning her eyes away from the wall she'd been staring at guiltily. The door opened slowly, revealing Shining in a new uniform with a new badge on it.

"Sorry to disturb _and_ correct you, 'Empress'," Shining said knowingly, giving her an exaggerated kneel of respect as he stared at her pityingly. "But I've been promoted; it's Lieutenant, now. The Captain heard about how I took charge of the situation after I requested assistance and he said I was, in his words, 'what the army needs'."

A weak smile came to the Ponyville filly as she smiled weakly, glad that the topic wasn't about the title he'd just used that Twilight had no doubt mentioned to him. The basalt 'gem' in her 'crown' had dulled, no longer reflecting light but seemingly dragging into its empty insides. "I supposed I should congratulate you, Lieutenant Shining Armor-"

"However," He interrupted, the tone in his voice being that of a stallion who had to do something he didn't want to. "I'm not here to pat myself on the back. I'm here to interrogate the 'mystery pony' who attacked Road Block and Marcella."

"Are you going to take me into custody?" Rarity asked simply, her voice expressing how little she cared at that moment in time.

Sighing heavily, he closed the door and came to sit in front of her. "No." Shining said, closing the shades with his magic. "You're old enough to be sent to Juvenile Hall but you did me a favor by shaking up those two because they gave me more information than I'd thought was needed. So, for that, I'm going to bend the rules into our favor this time. That doesn't excuse your behavior and that doubly means you're not off the hook unless you help me figure this mess out." To emphasize the last few words he lightly chopped the carpeted floor in front of him. "If you don't help me you'll be considered a suspect by the investigators and not only will I not be able to protect you from them without making you look like more of a criminal, but Twilight could still be in danger."

"What?" Came Rarity's flat reply, eyes hidden by the sleeping bag she was hiding in. "Why would she be in danger still if the bullies in question are too scared to approach her, dead and hospitalized with something akin to post-traumatic stress disorder?" Asking that, she rose her head from below the sleeping bag's 'lip' to expose her serious gaze and her once more shining 'crown'.

"Beginning with the strangest part, Senor Jumble and Red Herring were members of a cult that worshiped some pantheon of 'Outer Gods'. Their cult specifically worships something called Azathoth and they're trying to summon an angel called Armaros to undo its eternal slumber which will insight the end of the universe. Apparently, in order to summon this angel they to undo lots of things they've done before they preform a particular ritual to bring this angel to our world." He stopped there, taking a moment to let Rarity process this information as he gathered his thoughts before he continued. "Road Block, Marcella, and Ghost Hunter were none the wiser to those two's true plan but they mentioned that they liked to hang out in the catacombs which is where Bubbling Cauldron and a troop of guards are investigating. However, there are many catacombs underneath Canterlot and it could take the Royal Guard weeks to figure out which catacombs this cult meets in."

"What have their families said about this?" Rarity asked.

"Senor Jumble is Cauldron's younger brother and their parents being unaware of anything they do since they joined Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorn. In Red Herring's case, she's been an orphan her whole life and has lived on her own for the past four years without bringing anyone into her personal life besides Senor Jumble." Shining answered like he was reporting to his superior, catching her up on recent events. "Concerning their cult's existence, though, it's actually been around for several centuries and they've been trying to do this for a while, too. They've been preparing this for decades from what the records have said with the cultists having done numerous felonies in the name of their god all over the city in different parts of history."

"What have they done specifically, darling?"

"Numerous accounts of murder, rape, domestic violence, destruction of public property, treason, theft, attempted murder, attempted assassination and numerous other charges I didn't even know existed!" Shining said with a gasp of breath after saying everything in one breath while Rarity stared in shock at her best friend's brother's words.

Blinking with wide eyes, she rubbed her temples as she let everything sink in. "And just _why_ hasn't the guard taken interest into these cases?!" Rarity demanded, receiving a shrug of uncertainty. "Oh my Celestia, how is Canterlot our nation's capital and home to our god-queen if the military won't do its job?!"

"I don't know and technically, the term is god-princess." Shining said apologetically.

"Is there a queen or a king?"

"No."

"Is there anyone else ruling the nation besides her?"

"No."

"Does her court of advisers get the final say in her decisions?"

"No."

"Then she's a queen! She has been for over a thousand years, Shining Armor!" Rarity said fiercely, stamping her hoof into the carpeting vehemently. Having removed herself from the sleeping bag, she circled around Shining while she collected the shards of her old coat and putting them into a small container she'd found. "Urgh! Darling, help me collect these shards before we leave so we can give them to Twilight on the way to the archives."

"Wait," Shining said in confusion, doing as she asked anyways. "How'd you know I was planning to take us to the Royal Archives?"

"That's where all the records are kept, including architectural history and occult knowledge. Your sister told me that since Cauldron ' _wasn't_ ' the object of her affections, she knew a lot about him including his in-depth knowledge into the occult and supernatural. While you were watching Twilight yesterday, I asked him where he learned most of that stuff and he said that he learned it through trial and error as well as some visits to the Royal Archives. Where else would we go to gather information about the potential whereabouts of an evil cult?" She asked the last part with a snort, but Shining wasn't paying attention to that after she said that his foal sister had a crush on a stallion.

"Woah woah woah woah _woah!_ Back the fuck up, 'Empress', since when has Twilight had a crush on _anyone?!_ " The Sub-Lieutenant of the Royal Guard demanded, brotherly instincts kicking in as he finished gathering shards. "She's only ever cared about her studies since she entered that school! When has she had _any_ time to develop a crush on a stallion four years her senior?!"

As she closed the container, Rarity verbally clammed up, zipping her lips as she put the container on Twilight's nightstand before trotting out the bedroom door and stumbling upon a package on the dining room table. "'Holly Black Cig's? Who would smoke in Canterlot besides idiot teenagers who started to fight off stress from...work..." Nearly finished speaking, she turned to find a guilty looking Shining Armor. "...Oh no. Oh no no no no! _NO!_ I've seen what happens to stallions who smoke, darling! My father smoked for only a few months and it nearly _destroyed_ his hoofball carrier. Please don't go down this road, Shining! It will only-"

"I KNOW WHAT IT DOES, RARITY!" Shining suddenly yelled with his eyes shut in shame, startling the poor filly into silence, ears folded back and lips sucked in. He sucked his teeth in apology as he exhaled a vulnerable sigh, "I know what it does...I've known since I started smoking last summer..."

Her eyes wide in shock, Rarity looked for anything to help her make an encouraging pick-me-up for her best friend's brother. "Shining...darling, uh..." Before she could come up with a speech, the front door opened to reveal Twilight Sparkle with Sunset Shimmer and Spike in tow. Spike was looking around in what appeared to be awe but with how quickly his head turned-nearly fast enough to break his little neck-it was obvious that he was anxious about being out in the open. Shimmer was giving everyone in the crowd a seemingly friendly smile but with how every step she took lit a patch of the ground on fire.

"Hey, we decided to gather some supplies for a project back at school. Don't worry, Shining, we won't take long and then we'll head back to the infirmary." Twilight said that with closed eyes and a chipper smile that told them how glad she was to be going about life like it was just another day. She suddenly noticed that Rarity's face screamed fear and patient listening while Shining Armor had the face of shame and resignation. "What's going on? Is this a bad time?"

Spike, seeing his caretaker's brother, got excited and scrambled over to him. The wyrmling crawled up onto the table and found the pack of cigarettes, picking them up curiously. "Spike, put those down!" Shimmer commanded, taking them away from the whelp and staring at them with her eyes full of disappointment. "I thought I got rid of these after I picked up Spike's canned fish...Why didn't I double check?!" Her eyes found their way to the ceiling as her hoofs developed fetlocks of fire and stardust when she suddenly looked to Twilight's dragon, gears obviously turning in her head. "I have an idea on how to finally kiss my smoking problem goodbye, everypony..."

"What is it and why did you even smoke in the first place?" Twilight asked, closing the front door with her left rear leg.

Sending her an apologetic look, Shimmer answered her 'sister' protege with a question. "Your project's about the science of addictions, right Twi? Well, here's how you end the smoking portion of your assignment: in a blaze of glory as I end this vicious cycle of quitting and relapsing..."

"Well," Twilight began, tapping her chin before she nodded to Rarity and changed the role of responsibility. "I guess the Empress should be the one to decide her subject's health, correct?"

Everyone in the house turned their gaze to Rarity, getting said Crystal Pony to give everyone a look of surprise and uncertainty on what to do. "W-What? But, darling, I'm still an _aspiring_ empress. I-I-I-I don't-" She was silenced by Spike placing his paw over her lips and looking her in the eye with understanding far beyond his years.

"Rarity?" He began curiously.

Gulping down her fear as he removed his paw and stably shared his gaze. "Yes Spikey Wikey?" Rarity asked levelly. "What is it, darling?" He didn't speak, since he didn't know the correct word, but he pointed towards the cigarette package and briefly glanced at Shining Armor. Opting against saying anything at that moment, she nodded and calmed her nervous stomach. "...Very well, darling...We'll help Twilight by helping Sunset Shimmer quit smoking."

Shimmer gave her a grateful smile before turning to the Royal Guard in the room with a slight, feint blush dusting her cheeks. "Well then, let's help Twilight finish an assignment and help me stop smoking!" Finishing with a spinning flick of her leonine tail, she trotted out of the house with a relieved smile on her face as Twilight followed close behind while Spike, Rarity Belle and Shining Armor released a thankful sigh.

"Darling," Rarity began, holding Shining in place with a hoof on his shoulder and a sickly sweet smile. "Don't think this conversation is over and I want answers why you were doing your damnedest to avoid looking at Sunset Shimmer." Shining, sighing in resignation as Rarity took him out of the house with Spike on her back, although said wyrmling was oddly silent about Twilight's absence.

With said filly and her 'sister' protege, the conversation was a lot different. "Oh my Celestia, I didn't think he'd be there at this time of day! You said he'd be doing paperwork in the barracks." Saying the last part somewhat accusingly, Sunset was starting to hyperventilate. "I haven't seen him since we broke up eight years ago in high school! He didn't even see me..."

"Wait, you dated my brother? Also, I thought Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns is a high school." Twilight said, confusion being her mane emotion as Sunset took deep, calming breaths while she leaned against the wall of Twilight's house.

"Yes, I dated your brother during my high school years, and Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns is both a high school and a college. That's why students are able to graduate after only four years, even if they seem too young to be in eighth grade." She took a deep breath, this one being the last as she calmed down. A nostalgic, love struck expression crossed her face as she said with a smile, "He's only gotten more handsome with time..."

"Why did you two break up? You seem like someone he'd never stop loving." Twilight's words got Shimmer to smile with a a large blush on her face, ears folding back which seemed to be an unconscious quirk of hers since she did it so often without being in any sort of trouble or danger.

Shimmer, although wearing a faltering smile, was actually feeling quite sad from Twilight's question spurring on memories...

 **Flashback**

Lounging underneath a tree behind their school, Shining Armor was enjoying a well-deserved nap before he felt a pressure on his chest, getting him to open his eyes and find a happily smiling Sunset Shimmer laying her chin on his chest. "Hey, Shimmy." He said, smiling charismatically at his lovely mare friend. "What brings you here on this fine day?"

"Oh, nothing much, just enjoying the company of my favorite stallion in the world." Smiling and moving her ears upright to show him she was happy enough to fix her involuntary reflex, Shimmer let a glow surround the two of them while what appeared to be fireflies or stars came out of the air around her face. "You know I enjoy your company over just about everypony, Shine."

"Favorite stallion, huh? What an honor to be the Royal Protege's favorite. Oh, that reminds me." A sad expression crossed Shining's face as he coughed uncomfortably to continue his thought. "I've decided to enlist in the Royal Guard, meaning I won't be able to see you or anypony for a few months." The moment she heard him say that, the stars and glowing evaporated into nothing, Shimmer's face being the very definition of disapproval and fear.

Eyes widen and ears returning to their folded back position with much haste, Shimmer stood up and began stammering like the nervous wreck she'd been before meeting Shining. "W-What? W-W-W-W-Why?! Do you need time away from me, is that what this is?! A-A-A-Are you-mm!" Holding a hoof over her lips, Shining gave her his winning smile to reassure her.

"I'm not running out on you, Shimmy. However, this is something I've wanted to do ever since I was a colt. My cutie mark's a starred shield, meaning my purpose is to protect the weak with my power. Ever since those Fratelli bastards killed your parents, I've wanted to enlist even more! I can't let crimes go unpunished and I can't stand by as the Royal Guard miss what's right in front of them! Please understand, I'm doing this to catch criminals and protect those I care about." To emphasize his words, he brought Sunset's hooves into his own and held them close to his heart, compassion burning in his eyes.

"But, without you around I'll be all alone when I enter Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns as a college student. It'll be like my first year here, all over again. I don't want to be alone again after having you around to be there for me!" She sniffled, getting her coltfriend to stroke her cheek lovingly.

"I'm going away, but I'll come back and I give you full permission to chew me out after I do. When I come back, I'll be able to make a difference for the underdog and bring justice on all those who've hurt this city's citizens!" He had a far away look in his eyes as he envisioned himself climbing the ranks and tidying up Canterlot's streets, helping the helpless and giving to those in need.

"..." Shimmer stared at her coltfriend sadly, knowing that no amount of pleading and begging would stop him. That was the one thing she'd known about him since they'd met as foals, but it didn't mean she was happy about it. _He might not come back to me from patrol. He could forget me during his training. Maybe he'll never come home because he'll fall in love with somepony else..._ She kept coming up with possibilities she didn't like, each one making her eyes leak liquid dusk-light. Taking a shaky breath, she teleported after choking out, "Don't forget I love you."

Shining, hearing his mare friend's last words, started in surprise at her admittance. _Oh..._ Shimmer had gone to her home to cry herself a river of liquid dusk-light with Shining none the wiser to his decision's impact on her.

 **(Still in Flashack) Four Months Later**

Stepping out of the train station was a stallion garbed in a Royal Guard Sergeant's attire, followed by a trio of soldiers around a beautiful, pink pegasus mare wearing golden horseshoes. "We've arrived for your official coronation, Princess." Shining stated plainly.

An exaggerated groan escaped the pegasus mare, her stunning pomegranate-colored eyes expressed great uneasiness before the guard in command of her safety discreetly nuzzled her cheek. "I can see that we're here, Sergeant, but it's probably best that we reach the castle before the public realizes I'm here." Nodding to her words, Shining Armor gave the command for one of his subordinates to order a hooded carriage, casting an illusion over his charge to make her appear as a green earth pony to anyone besides themselves and any individual(s) familiar with the Sergeant's magical energy.

Example A being one excited Sunset Shimmer who tackled her coltfriend and gave him a big, sappy kiss on the lips which apparently ground the princess' gears judging by the way she pushed this strange unicorn off of her personal bodyguard with her wing. "Hey, what's the big idea, lady?" Sunset asked indignantly. "I'm greeting my coltfriend after four months of military training!"

"What?!" Both Shining and the princess asked in unison.

Raising a single eye brow, Shimmer confusedly asked, "What?"

"Since when have you had a marefriend, Sergeant? You've never spoken of anypony in your life as such!" The princess finished her statement by lightly stamping on the cobbles beneath their hooves as the aforementioned officer rose from his place on the ground with a shake of his head to clear his thoughts.

"I've been single my whole life, Princess. She must be confused, hehe." Turning his attention to his mare friend, Shining released a heavy sigh. "Listen, Sunset Shimmer, we're never an item. I don't know what delusion you've been living in the past four months, but we've never dated nor will we ever do so. When we were still in high school, I was acting as your significant other because I was your friend and I didn't like watching you get picked on." Shimmer, hearing these words with her ears positioned towards her favorite stallion, began to relax her ears into their regular folded back position with a betrayed look in her eyes.

Before he could continue, she placed a hoof over his lips and glared daggers into his soul. "Don't you lie to me, you charismatic son of a bitch. When I pulled myself out of my depression to ask you out, you said yes and then you took me out on other dates afterwards. So, if this is your idea of a joke, it's not funny and lying to a hot-pink pegasus so you can cheat on me is not cool!" She finished her words with fire forming fetlocks on her legs while also scorching the ground around them.

"I'm not joking and I'm not lying, Shimmer. You asked me out and I gave you my pity, the rest of them weren't dates! We were just hanging out platonically while I scared the bullies off. We," He gestured to Sunset and himself to emphasize his point. "Were never a thing! If you assumed that we were in a relationship, I'm sorry but I have to tell you that I never said we were-"

"And you never said we _weren't_ , until _today_ when you've got some random pegasus following you out of the train station like you've got her on a leash!" Her words, got the attention of passersby before said bystanders realized that the ground was starting to heat up and even melt in some places. "Don't you lie to me, Shining Armor. I've known you since we were in the fifth grade and you've always been there for me, emotionally _and_ physically. So, why is it that now, after you haven't answered my letters, haven't talked to anypony and haven't made your situation look any less bad, you're lying to me?!"

"Because, you weren't worth the trouble," Came his flat, heartless answer as the princess wrapped a wing around him possessively, every other pony giving the three of them a wide berth. His words bit into Shimmer's heart, her eyes wide and glistening with liquid dawn-light. "Unlike my _actual_ marefriend, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza." The ground around the orange unicorn began to char, fire kicking up around her while her head was lowered and her eyes were hidden from sight. "I stood by your side because we're friends, Sunset Shimmer, and I know that I've hurt you but I'm positive there's a stallion out there who will love you."

Even though she spoke quietly in response, the words felt like they were spoken into his ear. "I don't want any stallion..." Teeth grit and body sparking into flames, the last part she shouted to the heavens as her sparks finally triggered ignition of her body. "I WANT YOU!" Without another word, her body a mess of fire and heartbreak, she charged towards the couple and teleported before she could hit them, a wave of magical fire flowing to hit them.

 **The Present**

Shimmer's head was bowed and her eyes were full of self-disgust at her behavior. "What happened next?" Twilight asked curiously, deciding not to mention that the 'random pegasus' was actually her brother's marefriend and her foalsitter.

A bitter, mirthless snerk escaped the orange mare. "A choice was made, Twi, leave it at that. I don't feel like explaining it all at once."

"Okay. We've reached the Pyrotechnics Lab."

"Good to hear."

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! I-*My throat is slit and a grenade's shoved down my throat, exploding a few seconds afterwards* FUCK! Alright, Shining and Shimmer are not only ex-s but they're also struggling smokers, that's why I got hurt right? Or is it the fact that Trixie and Twilight have a relationship that's different from canon that's gotten me wounded?! To provide for those who either won't look between the lines or struggle with such things (Like myself), I'll explain.

In canon, Shimmer's around the Mane 6's general age area if older by a few months, which means she was either Celestia's protege for only a few weeks or less given that Twilight'd never heard of her and that they're about the same age. Now, since it's a spin-off, it's not technically canon but it's still gonna be a part of my story and I like (over)analyzing things. Shimmer's lack of presence in the show's history could be excused by Celestia just keeping secrets and the team behind the spin-off were only thinking about making money off of toys, but with how the fandom has argued about the canonity of the movies and with the lack of say from the people behind it besides "we like to think it's canon" I'm going to treat it as a failed canon and will thus break it down. Later. Maybeeeeeeeeeeee

Shimmer and Shining's smoking is easily explained. Hypothetically, a younger Shimmer whose parents were killed less than a decade ago is just told that the love of her life _not only_ didn't love her back but had dated her out of pity. She's too young to drink alcohol, she's too young to be a part of the illegal prostitution industry, drugs are difficult to acquire with her being only a high school student making minimum wage(also likely to ruin her chances in high places), and being a shut-in workaholic will lead to irreversible suicide. So, feeling hurt and needing something to help burn off the feelings, she starts smoking as a method to relieve stress and gets hooked after a few too many cigs.

For Shining, well the mention of paperwork should've tipped ya'll off. If it didn't, alright. Here's the basis of that situation: paperwork is _incredibly_ stressful and boring, so he needs an outlet that's legal, age appropriate and somewhat-easily managed/hidden. Cigarette packages aren't very big, meaning he could carry them around in pockets or something, unlike a bottle of Scotch or an easily lost baggie of Mary Jane, LSD and or Shrooms. So, we've got a young male who's risen through the ranks rather quickly and has become swamped with mountains of paperwork that he'd rather see burn than actually do but will do anyways to both keep his job and fulfill his goals.

Now, their having dated is another situation all together. Because I've made Shimmer older than the Mane 6 and 'cause the canon relationship 'tween Shining and Cadence is never given much detail, I've decided to not only give Shining an ex but also give him an ex whose emotional-psychological state has been damaged from a shaken past. Shining's stable personality would sedate my version of Shimmer's neurotic tendencies.

In the past, I didn't get this excited from the first review but this fandom can be brutal and I think authors need to start giving credit to the first (positive) reviews they get as well as those behind those reviews. The first review that I've received for this story comes from echo482 who says they like my take on MLP with a darker tone. Thanks for your words echo482, but other than that there's not much else to say. So (As always: Thanks for bein' here, R&R, no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)


	5. Look Out Girls, Incoming

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! I'm on fire for a while but it might not feel as clean as I'd like, so I'm gonna try to write these out as quickly and efficiently to give ya'll an entertaining story.

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Shimmer, gathering the pyrotechnic supplies needed to both literally and metaphorically rid herself of her addiction, wore a forlorn expression that carried a tired smile. Half an hour had passed since Shimmer began collecting the materials and Twilight had taken that time to jot down her observations in her notes, much to her sister protege's relief. _I can't make my problems become hers, that's too cruel, even by Canterlot standards._ Without much haste, Shimmer placed each firework she'd crafted into a spot on the ground. Inside each rocket she'd set a couple cigarettes, making sure she destroyed them all in a way that would remind her of the journey ahead.

"I think," Shimmer began, her voice shaky with how much effort she'd put into quitting in the past and hoping against hope that this time would be the last. "I think I'm ready." One of Twilight's hooves was placed on her shoulder, getting her to give her charge a grateful smile for the support. "Let's do this..." The sound of hooves against ground brought their attention to Rarity, Shining and Spike walking to sit beside the pair.

"Sunset Shimmer, darling, don't hesitate." Rarity said with a knowing, encouraging smile, getting an accepting nod from the orange mare.

"No turning back after this..." Shimmer said, letting a lifted hoof catch fire before she blew the flame out, sending sparks towards the fuse of one firework at a time. The first one that went up created a white trail before bursting into a glorious star-like explosion that followed with twinkling lights finishing it off, the symbolism lost to all but Shimmer. Or so was thought.

"Quitting with symbolism, hm?" Celestia asked, startling all present including her elder protege.

"Mom?!" Shimmer asked incredulously, covering her mouth soon after she realized her slip up.

"MOM/DASK?!" Came the unified shock of the other four in the courtyard that made up the Pyrotechnics Lab.

"EXPLAIN!" Twilight demanded. "My life's been an psychological and emotional roller coaster! I don't to suffer a heart attack at the age of twelve, so EXPLAIN!" Her words got the already folded ears of Shimmer to seemingly shrink in on themselves.

"Owie..." Came Shimmer's whimper of pain.

Celestia chuckled, nuzzling her apparent daughter lovingly and unintentionally-but-happily healing her in the process with the excess magic she naturally exuded. "I think you've frightened her, Twilight. Hmhmhmhmhm! I think I can explain this part of your story, dear. The day Shining Armor broke my daughter's heart was the day she discovered whose daughter she was." A pointed look towards Shining from Celestia got Twilight and Rarity to look at him with glares, getting Spike to do so in turn as his infantile brain copied his caretaker. Shining remained silent, ears folded back and smiling an apologetic, guilty smile.

 **Flashback**

Bursting into the throne room in an inferno, mane and tail alight as flames found in Tartarus'. Her blue eyes turned into zircon orbs, void of reason and full of only rage, grief and envy, were the most fearsome quality about her sans her fiery body. Her flames were shortening and lengthening as they burned fiercer randomly, her teeth became jagged as they started to melt away from the intense heat Shimmer emitted, and her zircon eyes froze any foolish enough to get in her way. A rabid, bellowing squeal-like scream filled with mixed emotions, getting Celestia to narrow her eyes down at her student from her throne as her guards stiffly took up defensive positions around her for all he good it did.

Whenever a guard met her gaze, they ran away with a frightened squeal that no one blamed them for. Celestia's eyes met her student's and she felt nostalgic from it, seeing the eyes of Nightmare Moon boring holes into her skull in Sunset Shimmer's own orbs. Ears folded back, she readied herself to charge with a quick chop of the ground with her right hoof, releasing a puff of scorching air as she did. "Stand down," Celestia began, the guards assuming she was speaking to the intruder. "I will settle her." Without another word, the solar deity of their nation strode down the steps leading up to her throne, moving guards aside with both magic of her horn and magic of her wings.

Shimmer didn't charge yet, her eyes narrowing and her body tensing at the approach of Celestia's great presence. Her orange coat seemed to singe itself at that time, turning from a gentle orange to the color of a scorched desert as if in warning. She shook her mane, sending sparks out in all directions and causing fire to spread around the throne room until Celestia snuffed them out with a mighty beat of her wings. Shimmer stood her ground, leaning close to the ground in preparation to charge when her teacher stopped several strides in front of her. "Don't do this, Shimmer. This won't end well for you if you continue down this path..." Once again releasing a rabid squeal-like scream, Shimmer charged at her teacher, getting said deity to sigh. "Huuuhhh, so be it. Have it your way!"

Flapping her wings consistently, she began to forced her student back with the power of the air flowing towards her, getting said mare to stop and struggle to move forward with tears leaving her eyes as the 'wind' threw dust into them. She stopped suddenly, getting Shimmer to lurch forward momentarily, long enough for Celestia to make her next move. Channeling a small amount of magic up through the groove of her horn, she let loose a beam of frigid air to beat down upon the infernal unicorn.

The attack seemed to be doing its intended purpose of cooling the hothead off, but at the last second she regained all of her strength with extra fury in her flames, warming up the air and following it up with blast of hellishly hot air directly at her teacher. Without wasting a second, Shimmer rocketed forth like a shooting star and struck the monarch, surprising all parties long enough for Celestia to use the strength of an earth pony to grab her student and slam her through the throne room floor.

Gasps of shock escaped all who saw the spectacle of their monarch fending off an attacker and coughs left a gasping Sunset Shimmer as she did her best to regain all of her lost breath. Celestia, not giving her the chance, dropped on her student's midsection with all four hooves which had the expected result. Shimmer, mind devoid of reason or thought, spewed forth her stomach's contents as burning magma, melting the stone around them enough to create holes which Celestia used to grab a chandelier from a lower floor and attack Shimmer with.

 _This is probably one of the strangest and most interesting fight I've ever been in, in my life!_ She thought, her momentary lapse in concentration giving a still disoriented Shimmer the chance to release an inferno around her which her teacher blocked with her wings even though it sent her soaring into a painting. Pulling herself out of the painting, she realized that she'd landed where the mouth of the depicted noble would be which got her to snerk briefly before she found a comet only a foot away from her face, getting her eyes to widen. _Oh crap!_

The resulting collision sent them both flying through several walls, damaging not only the architecture but also citizens and castle staff. A scream from Shimmer got Celestia's attention, recognizing these noises not as challenge but as desperate cries for help. Continuous screaming resulted as they entered a filled banquet hall where Shimmer took the opportunity to flip and propel herself with her flames down on her teacher's midsection where all four of her hooves struck. What resulted was Celestia emptying her stomach directly on Shimmer's face, blinding her with, oddly enough, half-digested marshmallow stars and cookie bits.

Shimmer, backing up and shaking her head like mad to get the filth off of her face, let the sparks fly and start fires on the nobles eating in the banquet hall. Screams began to fill the castle while the guard did their damnedest to evacuate the bystanders to limit the number of casualties as much as possible. Celestia coughed and wiped her face of the remaining stomach potpie, back-flipping and kicking Shimmer in the chin. What happened next was almost comical, as Celestia's pupil soared through the floors of the castle to fly out into the night sky where Equestria's queen seemingly appeared out of nowhere to flip in a forward's direction and slam her rear hooves down on her student's midsection. The two of them fell through the castle roof and back into the empty throne room, where Celestia hopped off her student's midsection to give herself a chance to breath. "Had enough? Or should I teach you why you never attack your mother when she's busy?"

" **M-Mother?** " Shimmer asked, still a blazing in-between of mare and inferno.

Celestia, sucking her lips in ire, in that moment had only one thought. _FUCKING SHIT!_ "Uh, just pretend you didn't here that, Shimmer!" Saying the last part with a dismissive wave of her hoof, she turned around and made to return to her throne when her student rocketed to stand in front of her with determined eyes. "Really, it's nothing." She lied smoothly, although it was obvious Shimmer didn't buy it.

" **I want the truth, _'_ _Mother'._** " Putting emphasis on the last word, she slammed her hoof down on the red carpet to emphasize her seriousness, incinerating the entire thing into ash as a result. " **Sorry!** "

"It's fine, Shimmer. But what I'm about to tell you is something you mustn't let out to the public otherwise you might become a target more than you already could be. For both the press and our enemies. Do you understand?" Celestia's question was followed by looking around them to be sure nothing was listening.

" **I understand.** " Shimmer said, sitting down on the floor as her body cooled slightly. Her voice, although still her own, had an unearthly edge to it that made it sound...ethereal.

A sigh escaped the monarch as she placed a hoof on her daughter's shoulder. "Years ago, I discovered why there are so few alicorns in the world. Not only are we a rare breed, but we're too powerful for our good and thus, cannot reproduce easily. Whenever I've attempted pregnancy all of my energy went into protecting my foal and nurturing it, however that proved dangerous for the fetus. My power is great and when everything in me is shifted towards the growth of a foal inside of myself, all of that great power floods toward the growing foal. Usually, not even the sperm I had tried to use to impregnate myself would survive reaching my eggs!

"This power I hold is so great it can destroy anything that isn't capable of handling it!" She looked to the setting sun and rising moon with sorrow in her eyes, opting against keeping up the illusion that she controlled them at this point in time. "Sometimes I would ask my personal doctor to inject sperm directly into my eggs so that I might successfully have a child. They did so and my egg would start to divide into a multicellular organism as it began gestation, however...it never survived long enough to see the light of my day." Her head fell at that, glowing tears falling from her eyes and down Shimmer's cheeks as well as into said pyro-mare's fire mane.

She didn't interrupt, seeing that this was a very emotional topic for her apparent mother. "If my egg(s) gestated long enough to become a fetus, it'd grow rapidly and in great health. However, after it reached a certain point, the placenta would become useless and my body would start to perceive my unborn child as an invading entity, and destroy it. Miscarriages are difficult, but for me they were even worse. And to add insult to injury, I sometimes _would_ give birth to a foal."

Surprise and joy crossed Shimmer's face as she lost her composure. " **That's wonderful to he-** "

"A foal my magic had _broiled_ inside of my own womb! When I finished going through labor the few times my foal didn't miscarry, it always came out lifeless, charred and cooked like a fish over a flaming pyre..." Her wings drooped, her eyes leaked liquid daylight onto her daughter's face as she touched her hoof to the young mare's cheek. "But then I had you, because I found another way. Much like the gods before me, as there have been many, I blessed a marriage between my worshipers in exchange for the child born of their consummation. And, from that union between two unicorns who prayed to my idol, you were born, devoid of either of your birth parents' individual genetic material but still not a clone of me while also having the genetic material of both. In a sense, you're the child of myself and your birth parents' nonexistent child." Celestia, finally letting go of all inhibitions at that moment after so long, embraced her child and cried. She wept like a mother who had just found her child after being years apart due to a catastrophe.

At first, Shimmer had no idea how to process this information. When she'd made to congratulate her new-found mother on the birth of foals, said deity had destroyed any joy in her heart by telling her that any potential siblings had been stillborn as broiled char. Her eyes were wide with shock at everything she'd heard in the last five minutes. Hesitantly at first, Shimmer returned the hug before she too was crying into her mother's coat, years of pain after her 'parent's death finally seeping out as liquid dusk-light.

The pair cried until they started laughing like a pair of giddy fillies, cuddling in Celestia's bed under the covers with a quick teleport spell as they fell asleep in each other's loving embrace. Staying like that until the morning light, they awoke in each other's hold and remained that way for hours after they agreed to keep this as secret as possible.

 **Present**

Shining stared open-mouthed at his ex-girlfriend before Spike and Rarity shut his mouth 'together'. "Don't leave your mouth open, darling, or you'll catch flies." Came Rarity's smug snark, getting her best friend's brother to glare at her briefly before he noticed that Shimmer had let herself enter her 'infernal state'.

 _Incredible to behold in thought but in person...Why have I never seen her in this light?_ He mentally asked himself, kicking himself when his superior changed her closed-eyes-smiling with her daughter to a maternal glare at the bastard who'd dared to hurt her little girl. _SHIT SHIT SHIT!_

"Please don't hurt him, m-I mean, Princess!" Shimmer said, her voice sounding edged but not as ethereally so as it had during the mother-daughter battle Celestia had described to them. "I know he dumped me for another mare, but even so..." Her zircon-blue eyes turned from looking at her mother to her ex-boyfriend with compassion, forgiveness and even-"I still love him although I know he'll never feel that way for me..." Finished saying that, she turned her stunning eyes away from his gaze and lowered some of the flames in her mane to hide her eyes from his view, shame and guilt surfacing in the colors of her flames as purple and indigo.

 _No, I want to keep looking!_ Shining thought disappointedly before a divine white foreleg blocked his view of his ex.

"You've a girlfriend, Lieutenant, and she'll be returning within a few hours. Don't hurt my daughter by hurting another mare!" She glared into his eyes, scaring him witless before she strode back to her daughter's side and stared at the rest of the fireworks. "Trixie's taught you well, hasn't she?" A nod from Shimmer confirmed her suspicions as she smiled down at the one she considered her 'filly'.

"Wait, was the symbolism you mentioned supposed to be you're fight with Shimmer being portrayed by the firework?" Twilight asked inquisitively, getting her teacher to smile and nod with a wink as well as a hoof to her lips in a 'shh' gesture.

"Yes, it was. Next one should somewhat obvious, to _some_ of us at least." Shimmer said oh-so-subtly. Releasing a few sparks and directing them towards the fuse of the next firework, the rocket launched to the sky to with a blue streak following it and exploding into the visage of a unicorn stallion.

Spike clapped slowly, face blank but eyes sort of judgmental of the fiery mare before them, that is until Celestia sent him a glower that chilled his already cold blood. The firework that followed wasn't very spectacular but it was a pretty burst of purple, white, blue and black. After that was the last firework to go off, exploding as a spinning seizure-inducer that danced around the courtyard like a colorful ballerina. Not long after it was lit, a shriek of the materials meeting in obnoxiously loud matrimony. All of them covered their ears except for Shimmer whose ears were bent backwards in their trained-ly relaxed state along with her mother, who bent her own ears back into her cloud-like hair which deafened the sound slightly.

A large, feathered wing brought Shimmer close to her mother's feathered chest where she heard the rhythmic breathing and heartbeat of the immortal sun goddess. Eventually, the sun set and Celestia's daughter drifted off to sleep in her embrace, getting said alicorn to lightly nuzzle her now low-burning mane. The most interesting quality about Shimmer's Infernal State was that the flames didn't hurt if she didn't want them too, just acting as an above-average heat source whilst asleep. _I'm so glad Shining's hurting her brought her to me, but I wish there were a way to keep him within safe distance of her without making him a danger to her. Huuh, I guess I can't have my cake and eat it too._

Twilight's wyrmling, curious of the burning unicorn, crawled over to where she slept in a sitting position. _I wonder if I can eat the flames of her mane or tail?_ Without any hesitation, he opened his mouth and put his mouth on Shimmer's fiery tail, chewing on the flames and gulping them down loudly. After swallowing, he licked his lips and gave Celestia an 'a ok' hand gesture. "Jaciv tepohaic wer kiwieg persvek sia narod ekil ekess jivi vur pescis." Spike said loud enough for only his fellow immortal to hear while everyone else had wide eyes.

"You think?!" Came Celestia's rhetorical, sarcastically whispered remark which Spike nodded. He made to take another bite of her pyric tail before Twilight brought him to her chest where he soon fell asleep. Looking to Rarity who released a sigh at the whelp's cuteness, she suddenly noticed the band around her head and horn with slightly widened eyes. "Rarity Belle, correct?"

Said filly looked to her nation's queen and nodded mutely, smiling nervously as both Twilight and Shining pushed her forward with their magic which got her to glare at the two of them. The two of them had turned their attention away from her respectively, Twilight was paying extra attention to rock Spike in his sleep while Shining whistled while looking at his ex-girlfriend which wasn't lost on the females around him. "Y-Y-Yes, Princess?!" Came Rarity's anxious response, her coat hardening and becoming transparent out of fear.

"Now now," Celestia began understandingly, getting the filly's body to halt its shift. "You're not in trouble. I merely wish to know where you got that crown you're wearing." Rarity, hearing that, looked to the ornament adorning her head with mild surprise and removed it from her head to look at it.

"I got it at the Steppes of Furzeo Carribish," All who heard that had eyes full of shock before Rarity continued. "In the Dreamlands. For as long as I can remember, I've been able to dream lucidly and remain aware of my dreams after waking up. While there, I met a young female, mostly-hairless simian who was brothers with a bipedal cat named Silverclaw and was twins with something else. Silverclaw and the other thing were fighting, during said fighting the female gave this to me and said, ' of an Empress, no?'."

Eyes now wide in surprise, Celestia took the crown and returned it to Rarity's head with urgency. "Don't let anyone else hear that story, alright? No one must know that you can not only have lucid dreams but be effected by them, otherwise you'll be in grave danger! There are creatures that dance on the line in the Celestial Plane, mocking the Dreamlands and the Waking World as they dance in between them, and they're rather...'rambunctious'. Should your gift become known to them somehow, you would no longer be safe and no one would be able to protect you from them. Do you understand?!" To emphasize her words, she stamped the ground and created a deep break in the courtyard they were in, getting Rarity to nod vigorously. "As for the rest of you," She said, knowing that the others had been listening and that she'd awoken the two sleeping 'children'. "Never speak a word of this to any individual you come into contact with or you'll be at risk as well. _Please_ , for the safety of yourselves and the security of Equestria, _never_ speak of this to _anyone_!"

Vigorous nodding answered her with salutes coming from Shining and Spike while Shimmer reverted back to her normal state in a cocoon of flames. "I promise to never speak of this with anyone, ever!" A smile came to her face that Celestia shared, before she noticed the male stallion was staring at her with an awestruck blush which made her blush and hide her face in her teacher's wing. "He's looking at me!" She said like a school filly, her voice being quiet but relatively high pitched, getting her teacher to chuckle melodiously at her child's love for her niece's personal guard.

An idea struck the monarch at that moment. "Shining Armor," Said stallion stood at attention, nervous under his monarch's eyes. "You will teach Sunset Shimmer self defense techniques and spar with her for the next six months. No sick days and no holidays from this task. You shall do this for every Wednesday at two o'clock sharp, at the arena resting atop the second highest mountain in this range." Both Shimmer and Shining stared at her in something in between shock, glee and terror. "That's an order, Sergeant!" Without another word and not waiting for either of them to protest, she teleported back to her throne room with a smug smile on her face which Spike shared alongside a giggling Rarity and Twilight.

Both young adults stared at where Celestia had been, mouths hanging open and their eyes wide. "Twilight, darling, what day is it?" Rarity asked mockingly with a smug smile and a cleft hoof to her chin, knowing the answer but wanting to salt the two's wound.

"Hmm..." Twilight responded, scratching her chin contemplatively. "I'm not sure, Rarity, but I'm pretty positive that it's Tuesday! I sure hope my brother doesn't screw up his _date_ tomorrow!" At that last word, Shining turned to her with the most embarrassed glare she'd ever seen and charged at her with the intent to make her eat her own words. Before he could reach her, however, Twilight and Rarity burst out into cackles and hugged each other around Spike as the former of the two teleported them into the infirmary where they held their stomachs as they laughed their lungs out.

Some time after an hour, a knock came at the infirmary doors and opened to reveal Bubbling Cauldron being pushed in by a spiteful-looking Shining Armor. "You're going to tell her you're sorry for bewitching and mind-washing her, asshat!" Twilight blushed a new shade of red, hiding her face in a book whilst simultaneously hiding underneath the blankets. Spike was cackling like a madman against Rarity's side who held a hoof to her face with her eyes turned skyward as she shook her head pityingly.

"Darling, he can't apologize for something he didn't do." She offered, getting a snort of disbelief.

"That's what he wants you to think, Ms. Belle! Now, _Crumble_ , apologize to my sister and remove the spell you have over her!" He pressed Cauldron's face into the floor demandingly, his eyes full of ire.

"I haven't cast any spells on her, Sergeant! All of my efforts concerning her have been to make her avoid me so she didn't get involved with my brother or his 'crew'! Please, you've gotta believe me..." Cauldron's words struck a nerve apparently as Shining shifted his bracer into its clawed state, getting the younger stallion's eyes to widen in fear.

"Oh, I do, Crumble. I believe you are a horrible individual who's not male enough to admit to his mistakes and make lies that are neither believable nor creative. What you said not only sounds like complete bullshit, but sounds like you're saying that my sister's not good enough for you! So," Shining placed the claw at the back of Cauldron's neck and pulled his leg back in preparation to decapitate him. "I'll give you one, last chance to admit to your crime and apologize!"

The lime green stallion whimpered in fear, realizing that Shining Armor's armor had an cancellation spell on it, preventing him from escaping with a teleport spell. "I can't apologize for something I didn't do..."

"Wrong answer." Shining swung his claw down for Cauldron's neck before Twilight shot a bolt at the bracer, breaking it into pieces. Turning to look at the glaring filly with his own daring gaze, he defied her to challenge him.

"Don't you touch him, asshole!" Twilight said through grit teeth, her eyes ablaze with determination. "He hasn't bewitched me and he's always made it his mission to avoid my presence so you can take your accusation, shove it up your ass and apologize to your ex and your girlfriend for hurting their feelings!"

A glare from Shining that carried the weight of years of bone breaking training and anger silenced her in that moment before Cauldron stood in his way, glaring at him with the specters of various creatures rising from the ground around him. "If you're going to make her cry, then you'd best leave because I've done my damnedest to stop her from crying while she's here!" His glare diminished as he went on a bit of a tangent. "Granted, I couldn't stop the bullies from being as such and I couldn't stop my brother and his 'crew' from attacking her, but I always made sure they apologized later for what they did. I left books she needed to read in places she'd think to look in the library and then I tried to pass notes but I realized that wouldn't work with my brother always watching me..."

"What?" Twilight asked, getting Cauldron to realize he'd been thinking aloud and blush.

"Eheheh...Well," He began, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly with a minor blush. "You see I took a bit of a fancy to you when you bumped into me the first time we met, a week before Ms. Belle came to Canterlot and I've been fighting with myself over talking to you and putting you at risk or leaving you alone and keeping you safe. However, now that my brother's no longer a problem, I'd say it's safe to talk about how I feel."

"But what about the cult?!" Twilight demanded, having been brought up to speed by Rarity during their down time before the two males came around.

"They'll go back into hiding for the next decade or so and resurface later, and when they do they'll be vulnerable because we'll be expecting them to come back with a flash." Cauldron answered with a smug grin, having talked with the investigators from the previous cult risings and knowing their routine. "We'll be ready when they pop back up onto the map. But now that that's out of the way, um...I-hehehehe!" He was blushing up a storm, being older than the filly he was talking to by about four years but acting like he was in kindergarten and he was talking to his first crush for the first time. "W-W-W-W-W-Would you l-l-l-like to hang out in the library while it's my shift to protect you tomorrow?!"

Twilight's face was blank and he couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye before he found the purple filly tapping the floor like a rabbit stomps the ground when hyped on sugar. "YES, HAHAHAHAHHA!" She started bouncing like a pink ball of energy that knew how to deny physics. Everyone in the room was expecting her to break it when a melodious voice was heard outside the infirmary. Shining opened the door and froze in fear at what he saw.

"I told you to stay away from my family, Fire-Mane!" Came a snarky, venom-laced jab sent towards a guilty-looking Shimmer from a certain pink pegasus. She had magenta eyes that sparked a fire in Shining's heart that he'd brag about to no end if he had the chance, her mane was an array of yellows, pinks and purples and her cutie mark was a blue, heart-shaped gem. "So don't get any bright ideas." She finished, her stance like that of a cat ready for a fight or a bird looking to attack, accentuating her feminine figure. Small, trimmed fetlocks on her hooves; long, slimmed legs; a soft, fun-aunt-esque facial structure: she looked like the perfect mare for any handsome stallion.

"I-I wasn't going to get in between the two of you, Cadence..." Shimmer muttered, head bowed in guilt and shame she didn't know if she deserved or not. Without another word, she made her way out of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns with tears falling from her eyes and sobs choking out against her will.

"Shimmer," Twilight called after her, getting Cadence to start in surprise at the fact everyone had heard that part of the exchange. "Wait!" Chasing after her, Twilight's rear left leg was pulled by her foalsitter who smiled warmly at her.

"Hey, why are you going after her? Don't you know she hurt your brother's feelings?!" Cadence asked incredulously, getting Twilight to glare at her foalsitter after seeing her in a new light.

"Yeah I heard," She began, getting her brother's girlfriend to sigh in relief before she heard the last part. "I heard about how my brother cheated on his old friend-turned-girlfriend with you and broke the heart of a pyric mare suffering from neurosis that _you've_ worsened!" Not waiting for a response, Twilight dashed after her sister protege, angry that she hadn't asked questions before.

Cadence, wearing the face of a mare who was less than pleased with the situation, looked to her boyfriend in astonishment. "She's running after the mare who tried to make you cheat on me, is under the impression that I'm the villain here, and you're not going to set her straight?!"

Shining sent her a tired stare, silencing any argument on her end as he sighed. "She's not wrong, Love." He said that and sat himself down on one of the infirmary beds, letting Cadence see the glaring dragon whelp in the room.

"Aw, who's this little cutie?" She asked nonchalantly, getting Spike to hiss as she approached. Rarity, seeing that she had to act as ambassador here, brought the wyrmling close to her body and explained.

"He doesn't know you yet, so he's going to be on edge, ma'am." Rarity said, offering an awkward smile which received a genuine, understanding smile from the not-overly-secret princess.

"Oh, I see. And who are you, by chance?" Cadence asked politely, fluttering her eyelashes sweetly which made Rarity do the same to let her know she'd played this game before.

The look of surprise in Cadence's eyes brought the twitch of a smile onto Rarity's face before she answered. "Rarity Belle: best friend of Twilight Sparkle, temporary babysitter of Twilight Spike and eventual empress of my new Crystal Empire." At the mention of the Crystal Empire, Cadence's attitude seemed to change from sickly sweet to genuinely kind as she chuckled nostalgically.

"I truly hope you can create a new Crystal Empire, Empress Rarity, because Celestia knows we need their gifts and their blessings..." She said that vaguely, getting Spike to leap forward and bite into her hoof which received no serious response besides a slight waving of the leg. "Hello little guy, how are you?"

"Qe japachi Jatil Itov Daariv!" Spike managed around the princess' hoof, his words not understood but his message quite clear to the reincarnation of Princess Amore of the Crystal Empire. "Wux claxon wer kornari di sia thurirl ios torir!" The whelp spit out her hoof and glared hell at her. "Si tepoha ti coanwor yscik ekess forget zahae svabol wux tira ekess sia reab, Jatil Itov Daariv..." Cadence, not knowing that the whelp was speaking, adjusted her wings to a move comfortable position against her body as she pecked her boyfriend on the lips.

"It's good to be back in Canterlot."

 **With Shimmer and Twilight**

"Are you okay?" Twilight asked, standing awkwardly atop the roof of Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. A mirthless laugh left her sister protege who sat on the edge of the school roof with her front hooves hanging off the edge.

Turning to look at the younger female, Shimmer flatly answered, "I'll never be okay, Twi."

"Anything I can do to help?"

Shimmer looked to the Mare in the Moon wistfully, wishing she could meet her aunt but knowing that that was impossible. "Turn back the clock." She answered through tears rolling down her cheeks. "What I wouldn't give to turn back time, restart my life, and fix everything I've done wrong...If only...If only..."

Coming to sit at her sister protege's side, Twilight placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder and asked, "If only what?"

Indignation came across Shimmer's face as she let the floodgates open, screaming to the starlit sky, "IF ONLY I HAD NEVER BEEN BORN! I'm always going to be alone! Not even my mom can make this empty feeling in the pit of my stomach go away, she can only lessen it for a while before it's back and I regret every breath I take as I count it up to another mistake!" Placing her hooves to her head, she sat there as tears rolled down her face. "I thought I'd accepted that I'd never be with Shining, but I guess I've never stopped being a naive little filly! Hope is the cruelest feelings I've ever experienced in my life: it feels good, giving you the strength to move through to the next day, but the moment you realize a shred of the truth it disappears and leave you a wounded addict...Forcing us to embrace despair, as it's a comfortable misery.

"However, after despair has held you in its grasp for eons, hope rears its ugly head and whispers in your ear, 'Maybe there is a way for things to be different', and we _always_ take it!" She slammed her hooves down into the roof shingles, breaking them off and sending them falling down onto those few below who worked themselves through the graveyard shift. Tears rolled down her cheeks, her teeth gritted and sharp from never returning to normal after her first time in her Infernal State. "WHY CAN'T IT ALL JUST STOP HURTING FOR ONE CELESTIA DAMNED SECOND?!" She begged the universe, eyes closed shut as she crumpled into herself and openly wept as Twilight hugged her hunched-over figure.

"Why do I still love him?! He cheated on me, lied to me and left me alone for years...but still, just seeing him, my heart skips a beat and my legs become like jelly...I hate loving him, I hate this heart beating in my chest as I watch him love her instead of me when he told me straight to my face that he loved me! Yet here I am, crying over him like a school filly hearing that her crush had never known her feelings and has started dating somepony else..." She whimpered out the last part, wanting to give up before she was lifted off of the roof with Twilight's magic and taken back inside of the school. "W-What are you doing, Twi?"

"Going to do something that should've been done a long time ago. If you say you give up, I will hurt you and I'll _make_ you want to live another day, understand?!" Demanding the last part, she got a frightened, vigorous nod from her senior protege.

 **Back in the infirmary**

"LOOK OUT, ASSHOLES, HERE COMES SHIMMY!" Twilight cried out from above the infirmary roof, getting everyone to stare confusedly at the ceiling before a scream of fear from Shimmer told them what was going on which had the expected result. Shining lifted a barrier around himself and Cadence while Rarity hardened her coat and acted as a shield for Spike. Through the ceiling burst a teary-eyed Sunset Shimmer, falling into the bed Shining had been in a moment before while leaving a fair sized hole in the roof where Twilight could be seen shaking her rump side to side proudly to the beat of a song only she could hear.

"DAMN IT, TWI!" Shimmer screamed. "WHAT IF YOUR AIM WERE OFF?!"

"But it wasn't!" Twilight countered smugly, smiling like the smartass she was.

"I KNOW, BUT WHAT IF IT WERE?!" Demanded Shimmer, her eyes following the hopping-down-to-them Twilight.

"You would be fine, Shimmer. You went toe-to-toe with Princess Celestia and came out of it without looking worse for wear, so I'm going to say you inherited your mother's thicc hide..." Saying that, Twilight stroked Shimmer's hair compassionately while the orange mare just sat there with streams of liquid dusk-light escaped her eyes as she shook in fear of her sister protege's assertiveness. "Now," Twilight said fiercely, pulling Shining Armor out of his barrier and in front of his ex-girlfriend, getting both of them to blush up a storm. "Kiss and make up!"

Everyone's jaws dropped through the floor at that statement, not affecting Twilight in any sense of the word as she smiled smugly with her eyes closed and shook her rump to that beat only she could hear.

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! Now, this chapter might feel shorter an' that's 'cause it kinda is. Although it's shorter, I hope it's entertainin' for ya'll. Onto business: I've been goin' through loops over the past few weeks and have only recently rediscovered my love for MLP which is why I started this story in the first place, as well as to see this story from a perspective other than the romanticized wet dream we all wish reality was like.

I might've packed a little too much emotional baggage into this episode, but I've crammed a fair amount of ups and downs into these first five chapters so I think I'll treat myself to a break for a little bit. The way I portrayed Cadence might piss off a few people or make them wonder what the fuck I'm doing or both, but something echo482 mentioned in their review made me think, 'What would my Cadence be like after finding out she was the mistress in a cheating scandal?' And because she's the reincarnation of an empress whose empire was based on conquest...I think the dots are pretty obviously place for ya'll to see where I'm goin' with this.

Behind the reincarnation idea is a comic I stumbled upon based around Sombra's origin story where he turned Princess Amore into stone and shattered her across the land, hoping somepony would gather them all up and return her to her former self someday. Differences between my story and that one's that Empress Amore's soul was shattered across the land, borrowing that concept from a Pagan belief of reincarnation that we're all a part of each other and that our souls are made of each other's.

Also, if it's not entirely obvious, this isn't the completed Empress Amore that Spike knows judging by the fact that she's a pegasus and not an alicorn like her princess title would suggest. She's still broken, fixed together pretty fuckin' well, but broken nonetheless and is thus an incomplete princess/empress which can be used to explain her bipolar behavior earlier. If you're an incomplete person, your emotions aren't altogether justified by yourself or stimulus, and thus you're unlikely to be able to hold strong opinions very often.

On a different note, the speed at which these chapters have come out will not be the general rule of how often I update my story. Okay? Sciscisciscisci! Believe me, if that were the case, I'd have finished all of my other stories and become something akin to a brain dead goldfish in a hospital somewhere. Not much else to say 'side please don't be like Master of Bate and make unintelligent comments that do nothin' but burn time as well as brain power and give me an aneurysm. If ya think these things, please save yourself the time, trouble and data by keeping it in your head instead of sayin' 'Ms Hooves thicc' to tell us how much ya wanna fuck a cartoon, pastel-colored horse.

Without much else to say (As always: Thanks for bein' here, R&R, no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)


	6. No Plan B

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! Apparently, _Insp_ ector _Ir_ _a_ _tion_ wants to burn my coil out before I can recharge, so I'd best get my quick writing fix. This chapter might irritate ya'll who enjoy my work, but fuck it, my inspiration's a bitch an' I'm a bastard so...Yeah! I don't own anything that belongs to Hasbro or Lauren Faust. So, let's get-

Pinkie: Wyverntooth!

Yeah?

Pinkie: Is this the chapter where I make my debut appearance?! *Bounces in place*

FUCKING DAMN IT, PINKIE, YOU SPOILED THE SURPRISE!

Pinkie: *Tears welling up in her eyes, begins to bawl her pretty blues out as rain*

Shit. Alright, let's start the chapter while Pinkie has her episode.

Pinkie: *Between sobs* That joke's lame and your plot's going to get you killed some day!

Bite me!

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

 **(Two years prior to the Cult of Canterlot Arc)**

Strolling through a mostly empty street were a pair of fine mares, both being given a wide, disgusted berth as they made their way to their favorite spot. One of these mares was a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail, her body and legs covered in healing wounds that appeared to have been inflicted by different wild animals. Teal, almond-shaped eyes and a contented smile displaying her perfect teeth, she strode through town seemingly without a care in the world. Her wings were rather large compared to her body which was quite slender and feminine, being about four-and-a-half meters diameter which gave many the impression that she was a pegasus from the coastal islands.

Long, slender legs; small, three-toed feet; and, finally, a neck that allowed her be as tall as a draft horse when she stood on her long, hind legs: she was truly a model waiting to happen. Her feathers were yellow, but near the ends of her tail and wing feathers was a beautiful pink hue that could remind anyone of a sunset on the horizon over the mountaintops in Canterlot. For a cutie mark, she had curvy pink-winged butterflies with blue bodies and wisps of what appeared to be colored wind between the three of them. Noticing a few nasty stares, she unfurled her wings to their full grandeur and gave several heavy flaps, kicking up a fair amount of dust and wind which deterred any smartasses from acting on their thoughts.

Bouncing alongside her was a pink earth pony with bright, round blues that asked for adventure and fun. She was shorter than the pegasus strolling beside her, but she wasn't that different from her. Although she was wingless, her frontal body was covered in nothing but pink feathers that were softer than cotton and begged to be fluffed. Similar to her companion, she had three-toed feet, but unlike her companion they weren't as dainty. Far from it, they were the feet of an energetic runner and dexterous individual. Her mane and tail, also quite pink, wild and curly but held in some semblance of control with more than a couple hair ties which she had used to create a ponytail on her head and flank which she chuckled at whenever speaking of it. Her legs had muscle on them, enough to warn any foolish individual that she could handle herself but not so much that it made her a walking ball of muscles and tendons.

A small but noticeable amount of shag hung from her legs, jaw hinge and flank was visible but it added to her charm. On her haunch was a cutie mark depicting three balloons, each with a variation of two colors. The first balloon was blue with a yellow string curling below it while the one at the other end was yellow with a blue string hanging down from it in a twist. And as for the last, middle balloon, it was a vibrant green with a blue and a yellow string that reached to the other two balloons as if to say they were a part of a group. "I doubt they'll bother us after that display, _Mrs._ Shy!" The pink mare said the last part with a bit of emphasis, the small amount of pudge in her belly giving each land of a bounce to leave a mark in the ground.

"Shh! Don't tell the whole town, Pinkie!" The pegasus lightly chastised, checking to make sure no one had heard her friend. "Just because you've the skill and power to put the entire town on the chopping block doesn't mean you have to put the three of us on it as well." A simple smile told her that Pinkie was just giving her flak because she was happy for her and just wanted to make her squirm if just a little.

"That reminds me, how is your wife doing with this whole scandal, anyways?" Pinkie asked, looking to nothing in particular with a stare that demanded reimbursement later. "I know a few people who are listening who'd love to hear how you two are doing, Fluttershy."

The now named Fluttershy looked around in concern, a blush on her face in fear, anger and embarrassment. " _Who?!_ " She demanded. "You said you wouldn't tell anypony! You _Pinkie Promised!_ "

"And I haven't broken the promise, Shy. However, I hear guys and gals who could be on our side!" Pinkie defended with a giggle, understanding her friend's plight.

Surprise crossed Fluttershy's face as she understood her friend's words. "You mean your 'fans' that only you can see, hear and talk to?"

"Yep!"

"Oh," A relieved sigh left the pegasus at that confirmation. "Well, I guess it started after I fell from Cloudsdale two years ago..."

 **Flashback**

A younger Fluttershy was falling, her large, ungainly wings in no way making her descent any gentler. When she saw the ground, she opened her wings up and began to glide over a forest where strange plants reached up towards her like violent arms spewing forth from the ocean's depths. Fire climbed through the canopy, nearly frying her had she not used the heat to gain lift to be higher than the treetops. However, it wasn't to be, as one of the strange flora reached up and caught her like an enormous Venus Flytrap fused with a giant squid. The maw of the plant had caught body but hadn't restrained her legs or wings as it dragged her below the leaves.

 _NO! I'M NOT DYING TODAY!_ She though defiantly, clawing at the plant's insides with her toed feet, she flapped her large wings vehemently and began to reach the upper branches before vines caught her wings and folded them closed. Now struggling even more with fear than defiance, she began to claw even more vigorously and using the forward-facing joint of her wings to punch through the vines and the trap's jaws. Running out of energy fast and feeling the plant begin to secrete its digestive juices, she took it one step further and channeled all of her power into her extremities and mouth.

With one, last effort, Fluttershy sank her teeth into the trap's flesh and started up a set of tornadoes that tore it to shreds along with the surrounding wood. The resulting clearing was a sight to behold, perfectly rounded and filled with beat up bodies of varying creatures and plants. Staining her body were the bodily fluids of those creatures and plants, the tornadoes having done more than their intended purpose. Breath ragged and her energy expired, she collapsed heavily on the ground amongst the many bodies.

It wasn't a day later before she awoke in a warm cottage carved from the hollow of a small group of trees that had melded together through magic. Decorating the walls were pictures of beautiful landscapes and varying creatures, packed into the shelves were books written in a language Fluttershy recognized as the language of the Griffons and the owner of the cottage alerted her to their presence. "I see you've woken up, Big Wings?"

"'Big Wings'? Oh, you mean me!" Fluttershy said embarrassingly, bowing her head nervously. She'd never met any Griffons besides-"Gilda?"

"Damn it, you recognized me!" Came a charming chuckle from the amalgamated beast. Her facial features were completely avian, a harpy eagle coming to the mind of the animal enthusiast. Feathers stretched out over her right eye, both of which she'd given a purple shadow to, which gave her a kind of moxie that wasn't easily found and maintained by many foreigners to Equestria. Talons like a raptor, her wings were slightly smaller than Fluttershy's which she didn't seem to mind too much and her body was leonine by all accounts. Although her head was a mottled grey, white and black, her coat was a nice bronze shade that matched the color of the cottage's interior. "How've you been, Fluttershy?" She asked with her claws opened in an invitation for a hug that Fluttershy readily accepted.

"I'm better now that you're here~" Came Fluttershy's suggestive response, getting Gilda's feathers to ruffle and puff up in a way that made her pegasus friend giggle at her _very_ good friend's reaction to her flirting. "You're still so easily ruffled, Lady Gilda."

A mischievous grin came across Gilda's beaked face, followed by her nuzzling the inside of Fluttershy's wings in a way that she knew would make her-POMF! "And you're so easily riled up, oh Lovely Fluttershy!" They stayed like that for a few moments, gazing into each other's eyes with contentment at each other's presence. "It's been too long, hasn't it?"

"Yes," Fluttershy said calmly, her face an example of tranquility. "Yes it has. How has Ponyville been treating you? I know you moved there so everyone in Cloudsdale didn't make you feel like an inferior species, but has Ponyville been any better?"

Gilda chuckled, padding out of the living room where Fluttershy had been sleeping on the sofa, getting her guest to follow her. "Ponyville's been treating me...uniquely. And it's less 'moved there' as it is 'moved here'." Saying that, she opened the door to reveal the cottage to be in the forest before she led her into town. "As Ponyville was originally earth pony only, much like Cloudsdale still is heavily pegasus only, I get a lot of flak for being here from the racists but nothing I haven't heard and nothing I can't handle. The point of this conversation, though, is that I know you're thinking of moving here..." They crossed over a small bridge into the center plaza, the stream underneath teaming with small fish.

"That's right, I wanted to reconnect with my mother's roots. Being an earth pony, she lived here before she moved to our house beneath Cloudsdale." Fluttershy said nostalgically, smiling as foals played in the summer sun.

Succinctly nodding, Gilda continued. "I know, and that's why I'm trying to warn you: if you do move here, don't bring up your heritage with anyone you don't trust and, even then, keep it closely guarded. Not a lot of the locals want to hear about their neighbor Posey having mixed her blood with that of another race." Gilda's words became bitter at the last part, angry at the townsfolk for being xenophobic. "There's another pony here like you with mixed heritage and I think you two would get along rather well."

They strolled through town, stopping by an apple cart and buying a golden delicious for Fluttershy to munch on. "Who's this pony you mentioned?" The yellow pegasus asked.

"Her name's Pinkie Pie, and she's one of the most progressive individuals I've met in the country. She's only fourteen, but she's already teaching the teenagers how to do complex equations, arithmetic and geometry as well as some of the more complicated sciences." A look of surprise at her age and achievements came across Fluttershy's face as well as a slight twinge of jealousy at the adoration in Gilda's voice.

"You sound quite fond of her." Fluttershy said, rolling her eyes like the moody teenager she was. A short laugh left Gilda at that comment, getting Fluttershy to blush at the attention they were getting. "Stop being so loud, Gilda, you're making a scene! What's so funny, anyway?"

"You're jealous of a pony you don't even know! You think I'd be such a bitch as to leave Cloudsdale, send you regular letters and cheat on you?" Gilda mentioned the last part quietly, knowing how the townsfolk would take to hearing her say that. A blush came across Fluttershy's face, having been dating Gilda for several months but still feeling too nervous to speak her mind where she felt it counted.

"Hiya, Gilda! Who's this delightful creatur-HUUUUH!" A look of surprise crossed the suddenly-there pink filly. "Is this the mare you've been gushing over in those letters Ditzy's been sending to Cloudsdale?!"

"Hey, zip it!" Gilda said as she used her eagle talons to grab and hold Pinkie's mouth closed. "If the rest of the town hears you our hides are all tanned, capiche?" Smiling vigorous nodding answered her before she let go of the filly's muzzle, getting her to start running her motor mouth at the speed of a freight train. "Ugh. Pinkamena Diane Pie, meet Fluttershy. Fluttershy, meet Pinkamena Diane Pie, more commonly known as-"

"Pinkie Pie! I'm gonna welcome you now!" Pinkie said excitedly, dashing off to who-knows-where.

"Oh, for the love of-" A wagon was placed in front of the two females which was followed by Pinkie pushing a button and starting up some music.

"Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! A fine welcome to you!" She said in a singsong voice, getting Gilda to groan at all of the stares while Fluttershy swayed with the tune. "Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! I say, 'how do you do?' Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! I say hip-hip-hooray! Welcome! Welcome! Welcome to Ponyville today!" Confetti and a cake flew out of the contraption and into the faces of the two lovebirds. Gilda was ruffled in a way she didn't enjoy and Fluttershy was chuckling at not only this filly's excited attitude but also her significant other's exasperation. Just to salt the wound a little more, Fluttershy went the extra mile and licked some of the cake off of Gilda's face, making said griffon squawk in surprise.

 **Back with the pair in Ponyville**

Suddenly, Pinkie placed a hoof over Fluttershy's mouth. "That's enough exposition from you! Here we are." Removing her hoof from Fluttershy's mouth, Pinkie clapped her feet together and slammed them down on the ground which resulted in the appearance of a complex circle filled with an array of symbols to appear, getting the clearing ground to change from cracked stone to large, polished marble tiles. "Do you want to be Clouds or Trees?" Pinkie asked with a good natured smile, knowing her friend all too well.

"Hmm, let me think...Trees always go first, but they're always harder to move. Clouds go second and are easier to move but take a lot more effort to use..." Fluttershy began listing off the pros and cons of which side she would serve, giving Pinkie the chance to place the mentioned factions onto the enormous chess board. The clearing they were in was a part of Sweet Apple Acres but they weren't planning on using the land, so Hard Cider and Peach Velvet let them use it as their hangout spot while the area around the barn was used as a classroom for high school students.

The pair of them had 'found' tree saplings that were wrapped around the roots near the edge of the Everfree Forest and had taken some of them to be planted around town as well as in the orchard while the extras were preserved with some of Pinkie's mad science to be used as chess pieces. She picked up a pair of dreary looking weeping willows on her back and placed them at the two corners on one side of the board, using them as rooks since Fluttershy's rook friends enjoyed the weeping willows around Ponyville. Para rubber were the pawns, the extras they'd found being too many to be used around town. A sequoia was the queen, there was only one they could use and its size made it seem regal, demanding respect. Silver birch were used as bishops, no particular reason in mind besides the name seeming vaguely similar and the seeds resembling a model sized staff bishops carried.

Nutmeg had been the king because of its size and how little was needed in making delicious foods. Knights were the hardest to decide on for the hybrid duo, seeing as they had more than just a few extra tree saplings, but eventually they'd come an agreement on curry trees being the knights with how hot the spice was and how hot-blooded Royal Guard recruits were when enlisting. Pinkie Pie, having finished sooner than Fluttershy was ready for, as usual, poked her friend's shoulder and directed her attention to the winged pony's side of the board. "You always pick Trees, Shy, and I always pick Clouds. So, could you get me some, please?"

Fluttershy nodded, chuckling at how far ahead Pinkie thought most of the time. She ascended and grabbed a few altocumulus clouds for Pinkie's side of the board to act as rooks, catching a couple stratus on the way to act as rooks. Two cirrus were procured to act as bishops, a cumulonimbus as a queen and a nimbostratus was chosen as the king. Finally, a pair of cumulus were chosen as knights. Placing them over tiles, she landed and used her wing as a catapult for Pinkie who'd delicately stepped on to be flung up onto a platform made of several packed layers of cirrocumulus. "Ah, you made it so soft!" Pinkie said, rolling around in the fluffy gas, her coat remaining dry despite it being mostly water. "I love how my pegasus genes grant me hydrophobic effects like remaining dry after a nice, cleansing bath!"

A chuckle answered the feathered earth pony, getting her to look down at her friend and smile gratefully for remembering her favorite kind of cloud besides the one she had the most affiliation with. "Shall we begin, Ms. Pie?" Fluttershy asked politely, getting her opponent to nod as she sat at attention. "Very well. Pawn A to A-3!" She said, moving the sapling she'd mentioned with the forward-facing joint of her wings and sliding it into place slowly as the fabric made it topple over on the marble. "Next time, Pinkie," She began thoughtfully. "Try something slicker, like polished granite or polished diorite, hmm?"

"Sure thing, Shy. Knight C to B-6!" Pinkie proclaimed, jumping onto the cloud she'd mentioned and bouncing with it to the place she wanted it before hopping off of her other pieces to return to her platform above it all, just where she liked it. "Maybe I'll try transmuting the stone into thick glass, next time. That way, we'll be able to slide it along easier?"

"Pinkie," Fluttershy said, carefully sliding another pawn forwards. "You're a scientist and all too aware that won't work the way we want it to. Pawn B to B-4."

Groaning in displeasure at her friend reminding her that her young thoughts weren't up to speed with her intellect, responded by moving the knight she'd used earlier. "Knight C to D-5! We're off to a great start today, Shy. Maybe after this game, we can go talk to Gilda about which one of you are gonna carry your baby." Pinkie smiled proudly at the surprised and excited look in her friend's eyes, knowing just the right points to press in order to achieve victory.

"Absolutely! Pawn D to D-4!" Fluttershy said excitedly, not even realizing she'd left herself open for attack. This wasn't a constant routine of theirs, Fluttershy's strategy of choosing random Pawns to move usually kept Pinkie's calculating mind sharp, but apparently the teacher had figured out the pattern sooner than she was ready for.

"Oki Doki Loki, Mrs. Shy. Knight C to E-3, setting us into Check!" Pinkie's words brought realization across Fluttershy's face, getting her on the defensive.

"Knight F to E-3!" Saying that, she picked the sapling up with the claw at the larger joint of her wings, allowing her to disperse the cloud by swinging the tree through it.

The look of mock disappointment on Pinkie's face let Fluttershy know that this was all going according to plan, as Pinkie had beaten the Chess Club's champion(s) more than a couple times in casual games, and she was the only one Pinkie seriously struggled with. Why was anyone's guess, but it had been suspected that it was because they were both of mixed breed and that blinded Pinkie's subconscious to possible solutions to problems. It had become common knowledge that Pinkie, for all her flare and humor, was quite competitive and doing everything in her power to prove to the townsfolk that she wasn't a disgusting, impure mockery of a pony like they said behind her back. "Ah, you took away my quick win and the surest way to getting around to talking about either you or your wife's pregnancy...Pawn B to B-5!"

Hopping off the Pawn cloud and returning to her platform, she gestured for her opponent to make a move. "I know, but it wouldn't do for me to give up after having given you a challenge over the course of the past two years we've known each other, now would it? Knight F to F-5!" Fluttershy opted against carrying it this time, flexing the small claw at the joint of either wing and wincing slightly, the lack of strength in them being something she didn't enjoy acknowledging.

Pinkie, being observant, noticed her friend's wince and offered, "Maybe I should give you some salves to help ease the pain after you exercise your wing-specifically your claw-muscles? Pawn G to G-6!" A grateful nod answered Pinkie's question. "There are an assortment of salves you can make with the herbs you've got around your cottage. After this, I'll find the recipes. Your move."

"Thanks Pinkie. Knight F to G-7! Checkmate!" Fluttershy said triumphantly, getting Pinkie to blink in confusion before looking and seeing that she couldn't do anything to save her King. A look of indignation crossed the pink crossbreed's face.

"That's not fair, Shy; using your pain as an excuse for me to lower my guard! That's cheap!" Pinkie proclaimed, rolling onto her back and sinking her head through the platform's layers to glare indignantly at her chess rival.

Chuckling, Fluttershy merely said, "All's fair in love and war, Pinkie Pie." The moment she said that, she realized something. "Oops, wrong proverb! My bad, hehe! What I _mean_ to say is-"

"'Nothing succeeds like success'?" Pinkie offered, fully aware that her opponent had caught onto her using the pregnancy topic to her advantage.

A nod from the winged crossbreed was all she needed as an answer before she stamped on her platform, destroying it layer by layer until she was on ground level where she could get rid of the clouds Fluttershy had gathered. Dispersing them with kicks and punches, Pinkie stopped at a cumulonimbus cloud and kicked it in such a way that-CRASH! thunder boomed.

"AH!" Fluttershy yelped, getting Pinkie to bust a gut much to a blushing Fluttershy's ire. "Okay, you've had your fun, Pinkie. It's time to talk to Gilda about who's going to carry the baby." Pinkie, still laughing, nodded in agreement before dispersing the rest of the clouds and following after the yellow pegasus.

 **Fluttershy and Gilda's Cottage**

"Knock knock," Pinkie said, holding back a laugh.

"Who is it?" Came the rhetorical Gilda's voice, receiving a Pinkie joke to the face, literally.

By kicking open the door violently and causing Gilda's feathers to ruffle with a loud squawk in shock at how close she'd been to getting her face crushed by-"The Door!" Pinkie replied, her tone oh-so-serious but her expression that of a newborn baby smiling for the first time. "So, who wants to get knocked up?" The bluntness of the question got Gilda's feathers to puff up in even more surprise and made Fluttershy blush a new shade of red.

"Don't say it like that, Pinkie!" Gilda said, glaring at her in distaste for her crassness. "What if somepony hears you? What then?!"

"Please," Pinkie said dismissively. "You know nopony's going to come here. There's a pegasus, a crossbreed and a griffon all in one house. I've calculated the likelihood of somepony walking in on us talking and they're fifty to one, so calm your mammaries. And speaking of calculations," Before either of the taboo lovers could speak, Pinkie went on a tangent. "I've figured out a way to convert the genetic material found in your vaginal juices into a semen-esque substance that, theoretically, should impregnate one of the two of you depending on which one of you decides they want to be bedridden, doted on like a helpless child, dry heaving in the morning hours, unable to leave the house to avoid contact with racists and hungry almost constantly!"

The faces of the two winged females paled, seeing all of the risks they were taking with having a child. Neither spoke for a few minutes, giving Pinkie the time to raid the pantry and cook herself some cherry-changas which she wolfed down in record time. "Pinkie," Fluttershy began slowly, voice shaky in a way that made the other turn to see her crying with a smile on her face. "I-I-I-I'd like to c-c-c-carry o-o-o-our c-c-c-child, i-i-i-i-if that's o-o-o-okay..."

"Flutters?" Gilda asked worriedly, gently holding her partner's 'paw' in her claw like it were the thorny stem of a rose or the most fragile vase in the world. Said pegasus/earth pony mix nodded at her wife and hugged her, crying both in fear and joy at the chance to start a family with the one she loved. Pinkie, seeing that now wasn't the time to run her motor mouth, let the forbidden couple have their space by taking a look around the cottage anything that might help ease their struggle in having a family. "You don't have to do this, you know?"

"I know," Fluttershy sobbed softly, stroking her wife's cheek lovingly with a smile. "But I want to." Without another word, the yellow pony pressed her lips against Gilda's beak, momentarily catching said griffon off guard before she return the kiss. They stayed like that, holding each other in an embrace of love forbidden by the public, their mouths not leaving from the other's for an unknown span of time. It could've been a thousand years and they wouldn't have cared, the sanctity of their home granting them the sanctuary they deserved from the prying judgmental eyes of the populace.

After they finished kissing, hesitantly pulling away from each other to look into each other's eyes assuredly, they went and found Pinkie practicing her Gryphonian. She opened her mouth and asked if they'd come to a consensus in a well-spoken yet accented Gryphonian. "Yes," Gilda began, holding Fluttershy's 'paw' for comfort. "Yes, we have."

"Wonderful," Pinkie said with a kind smile, the knowledge of how dangerous their life was already obviously weighing down on them both. "I'll begin making preparations. Be aware, this will take time and lots of caution, so please, please, _please_ be patient with me!" As she said that, she returned the linguistics book to its place on the shelf and left the cottage with a skip in her step she didn't actually mean.

 **A few months later, after class**

Making her way to her lab after filling in for an elementary teacher again, Pinkie strode through the crowd with a blank look on her face. Strangely enough, nopony had commented on her existence being a mistake today. _Maybe they've better things to do than remind me why my father became a violent alcoholic._ She thought bitterly, fighting back a snort when she heard a commotion from the marketplace. When she looked, she found a bunch of random ponies stoning Gilda, getting Pinkie to clap her paws together and slam them into the ground, another complicated circle with an array of symbols forming underneath the cruel racists.

By the time they realized what was going on, it was too late as the ground became a sinkhole as deep as half a story. "Hi Gilda." Pinkie said plainly, walking around the sinkhole like it were a natural part of the environment to the chagrin of the townsfolk. "How's your day been?"

A grateful smile came across the griffon's bruised face, the crate of things she and Fluttershy would need being held close to her chest. "It could stand to be better, but not altogether the worst experience of my life thanks to you."

"That's good to hear," Pinkie said with a smile, her eyes communicating her momentary plan to an equally smiling Gilda as they continued in their idle chitchat. "How's Fluttershy? Is she sick? Some of the students have been asking where she is and they're starting to get antsy without her there."

Rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment, Gilda said with an awkward smile, "I guess she wanted to surprise everyone, but since it's you she wouldn't mind me telling. She's with child, several months along too!" She finished with a genuine smile, getting Pinkie to smile back at the news with believable surprise.

"Oh my Celestia, that's great news! Who's the father?!" Came Pinkie's question with a glance to the ponies in the hole, any angry sounds coming from the sinkhole having vanished as they waited impatiently for a new target to become known to them.

"She hasn't told me his name, but she said it's one of the married town chairmen, so the child's obviously not going to be aborted any time soon." A gasp could be heard from within the sinkhole, getting the two to bite back cruel smiles at the fact that their plan had worked as the sounds of infighting began to arise which gave them the chance to leave the area and come up with a continuation of their plan.

On the way to the cottage, they bumped into an orange earth pony with a cutie mark showing three apples, each of which had a crescent moon reflected in it. "Hey there, _Teach_!" The pony said bitterly, glaring daggers at Pinkie for even breathing.

"You go on ahead, Gilda, I'll talk to Apple Jack." Gilda nodded to Pinkie's words before said teacher cleared her throat and gave her former student a winning smile. "How may I help yo-"

"Cut the shit!" Apple Jack interrupted, getting Pinkie's smile to vanish in place of a glare at this behavior that she'd tried and failed to eliminate from her students. "You and I both know what this is about, you favorites-playing mistake of nature!" Pinkie's ears folded back as her hair straightened out while she sighed, her mood dampening more and more as the day went on, before she looked the dropout in the eye.

Firmly grabbing Apple Jack's shoulder with a grip that came from being raised on a rock farm, she told her former student what she thought. "I never played favorites, AJ. _Never_ have I played favorites amongst my students. You were always struggling and I always offered to help you but you shot me down, resulting in you falling behind, your grades dropping alongside you like your brother did. Only, in his case, it was by choice and not by pure, stubborn pride blinding him to his potential!" She said the last part angrily, static electricity sparking around Pinkie's hair and dancing across her coat, the light reflecting off of her eyes in a way that made her appear more menacing than a stray timberwolf to the scarred Apple gal.

Silence answered the teacher, AJ's eyes wide in fear at the disapproving tone in Pinkie's voice and the amount of anger she seemed to emit. This wasn't her old teacher, this was an oppressed mare who had had it past the stratosphere with ponies giving her shit for even being alive. "Now," Pinkie began, strolling passed her former student, her tail flicking her in the nose, causing a serious shock to course through her. "I'm going to go check up on my friend, which is something you'll never have if you're always trying to make yourself look better than everypony else. You know, I grew up on a farm too and that's where I've developed the humility, patience and respect I have for ponies like you, but if you're the ideal image of what our generation is going to be like as normal ponies..." She didn't finish within earshot of AJ but it was obvious to the farm filly that she'd made her former teacher very mad. "I'd rather see abominations like me be born a thousand times."

 **Current circumstances (Contemporary to Cult of Canterlot Arc)**

"I don't like this plan, Pinkie!" A nearly-due Fluttershy said sternly, glaring at her friend from her place on hers and Gilda's bed. "And I mean I _really_ don't like this plan!" Pinkie, wearing the attire of a licensed doctor, looked to her friend with a face expressing her displeasure in the plan as well. Gilda was warming up some water for the delivery. "Please tell me there's another way. Please!"

The dark, guilty expression on Pinkie's face told her all she needed to know. "Even with all of my power, Shy, I can't calculate any solutions that don't involve something or someone losing their life or lives...This sickens me more than you know, and I wish there were another way, but our paws are tied." (A/N: When in the case of creatures with feet or more than one toe, the spoken of appendage shall henceforth be known as a paw for simplicity's sake.) She didn't wait for any disagreements, pulling a large, coin-like mirror from her saddle bag, she flipped it into the air and pulled a clone of herself out of the reflection on one side.

"I've got the water," Gilda said nervously, unsure of what else to do. "I guess all we have to do now is wait, right?" Before anyone could answer, Fluttershy groaned in great pain, getting Pinkie's clone to administer anesthesia while the original Pinkie undressed and grabbed a basket of small animals. The original Pinkie's eyes watered at what she was going to do, doing everything in her power to justify her actions without countering it with facts.

"Pinkie," The other Pinkie said smoothly, prepping the room for the delivery. "If you take too long, the gig's up and we'll lose more lives than just that basket of furry things and the hospital's newest trashed stillborn!" Pinkie nodded to herself, knowing that she was right even if it made her stomach churn in self loathing. Beside the basket of baby squirrels, baby mice and pigeon eggs was a bowl filled with shed fur, toe nails, molted feathers and saliva that she also grabbed with a look of disgust at this plan. Due to their being only so much anesthesia she could get without arousing suspicion, Fluttershy's started as Pinkie began the transmutation of the little abomination the village expected to see, drowning out the cries of pain from the infantile creatures she was using alongside her friends' genetic samples.

What she created wasn't altogether hideous which was a small blessing Pinkie thanked Celestia for, but the next phase was enough to lose her lunch into the little creature's opened mouth. "Are you ready...Little One?" She asked through sobs, Fluttershy's cries being audible outside of the cottage. Stroking the creature's cheek, she wrapped it in a nice, warm, comfy ripped pillow case and placed it inside a curtained carrier kennel she'd made with Gilda's help. Wiping away her tears and choking back more sobs at the cute, innocent sounds the creature made in its desire to be let out, Pinkie forced a smile and made her way into town. "It's show time, Pinks...Can't cancel, it must always go on..."

Her words didn't encourage her. They, quite frankly, made her feel worse off than anything else. She was stopped suddenly by a short, red mare with a braided straw-brown mane and tail. Eyes the color of emeralds and a sweet smile that professed her true feelings, her name was Peachy Velvet, mother of (Not-so-)Big Macintosh and Apple Jack. The latter of the two children was standing beside her mother, a look of guilt and nervousness on her face. "Ms. Pie," Peachy Velvet began in her Manehatten accent that Pinkie had found amusing in the past, apology in her eyes as she and her husband were quite fond of Pinkie and Fluttershy and their efforts in Ponyville. "I'd like to extend the hoof of apology for my daughter's behavior and have not only told her to apologize but to also attend your classes from now on." The sound of a small creature stirring unhappily brought the Apple gals' attention to the cage Pinkie had strapped to her back with her saddlebags. "What, may I ask, do you have in there?"

Deciding to be as frank as possible, Pinkie depressingly said, "My greatest project and...my biggest mistake." Tears trickled down her cheeks once more as she choked on a sob, holding up a hoof when the farm ponies made to offer their condolences. "Please, Peachy, don't make this harder and AJ," She turned her hurt eyes to her former student with a glare, sick and tired of dealing with her shit over the years. "Save your Celestia-damned apology! Attend my class if you want, that's your decision, but tell everypony to meet in the town plaza for my public announcement and most educational lesson yet." Her eyes were those of a wounded mare, a mare who had experienced pain and suffering from day one and would continue to experience those things until the day she died. "Go, go and tell everypony to meet in the plaza! I don't care if they're my students or not, just get everypony in high school and older to come to the plaza for a public lesson!"

Receiving silent nods from the gals, Pinkie continued on her way to the empty ground in the middle of the plaza. She brought the folded lab tables out of her saddlebags and opened them up, placing the cage on the as she did and waited and watched as ponies gathered around. They gathered around her, many with glares and others with curious stares as they gathered whatever they could find into makeshift bleachers. "We've gathered everypony who'd listen, Ms. Pie." AJ said timidly, getting her teacher to nod at her with eyes that made it clear that she was to remain silent at all times lest she incur her wrath.

"Welcome," Pinkie began, her voice carrying over her quiet audience. "I've prepared a very special lesson for all of you today, so students should pull out their pens and paper and adults should shut up and listen really _really_ closely because I'm not saying this more than once." She removed the curtain over the carrier kennel to reveal a cute creature unlike anypony had seen before and pulled it out. The animal's eyes were wide and curious, looking at everything around it with child-like wonder that made several sigh. Face like a pony, its ears were fluffy and long while its paws were very similar to Fluttershy's but with a feline quality nopony could place. Behind it swished a long, feathered tail like a cat's or a squirrel's and it squeaked like a mouse would. It feathers were a pretty yellow but with pink and blue highlights, the creature's big eyes were as teal as they came and its body resembled something along the lines of a cross between a foal, a big cat cub and in many odd ways an alligator hatchling. Sitting on her hind legs and holding the creature close, she spoke. "You've all no doubt heard about Fluttershy's unexpected maternity leave," Several nods answered her, some disgusted at the very mention of Posey's daughter's name. "Well, the good news is that she's fine. Finished delivering about a couple hours ago."

Clapping could be heard from the more progressive members of the crowd, groans of anger from others as she continued sadly, "A couple hours ago, which gave her enough time to say her last good byes to this little ball of innocence she's been gestating for the past year..." Silence overcame the crowd at that, realization crossing the faces of the older crowd while most Pinkie and Fluttershy's age group had mild confusion crossing their faces. "Let's skip the pretty, white lies and get down to the cold, hard facts: Ponyville hates Fluttershy and myself with a vengeance it's derived from nothing. Gilda's also suffered this town's wrath, but she's been living with that for her whole life in Equestria. Everypony who's made it their mission in life to make ours suck has no doubt mentioned how _disgusting_ and _vile_ we are and how anything we do or create will be completely and utterly _revolting!_ Well, judging by how this thing turned out, I can say that they're wrong." Claps and whistles were heard from the crowd before Pinkie waved them away with a sad look on her face. "However, because Mayor Mare hasn't passed the legalization of crossbreeds being allowed to reproduce either amongst themselves or others, this little one is technically an illegal entity and thus must be handled accordingly. Problem is that there's nothing in our legal system concerning crossbred individuals reproducing, so there's nothing to do about it. Once again, however, this town _hates us_ and that applies to anything we create so...there's only one course of action left to make..." Pinkie sighed heavily, the crowd's silence deafening her ears as she placed the ball of innocence she'd created from her two friends' efforts to save their own ball of innocence, as she nuzzled the little creature's belly which made it let out a cute little 'grrr' noise that made Pinkie's insides twist into knots.

She placed the creature onto the table and strapped it down, preparing herself to enter teaching mode. "So, as there's only one course of action left, I thought I'd make this town bette-"

"THIS TOWN'S PERFECT BEFORE YOU FREAKS CAME HERE!" An old stallion said, getting Granny Smith to punch him right in the teeth to let Pinkie continue.

Nodding to a sad looking Granny Smith in regretful thanks, Pinkie continued, "I thought I'd make this town better by teaching _all of you_ a little something about your brain and your morality. You see this adorable, innocent little creature that Fluttershy brought into this world?" She asked the last part rhetorically, getting nods from everypony. None of them could look away as she regretfully rubbed its belly once more, its cute innocence being reinforced by its noise. "This is your brain, pure and simple and _devoid of sin!_ And this," She broke down into sobs and began to rub her coat so vigorously that electricity started flying off of her in a light show, slamming her electrified paws down on the creature, frying it into the charred carcass of something that deserved to live as much as any of them. Pulling away her paws, staring at them through tears of guilt and loathing, she continued. "Is your brain on drugs, after you give up on your morals and AFTER YOU COME AFTER ANY OF US WHO DESERVE TO LIVE AS THE REST OF YOU! ARE YOU RACIST FUCKS HAPPY, _NOW?!_ YOU GOT WHAT YOU WANTED AND YOU CAN NOW SAY THAT I'M A MONSTER WITH ACTUAL PROOF! NOW I REALLY _DON'T_ DESERVE TO BREATH THE SAME AIR AS YOU!"

Apple Jack cried out in horror at what her teacher had done, "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"

" _BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT FLUTTERSHY'S INNOCENT CHILD TO SUFFER LIKE SHE AND I HAVE EVER SINCE WE CAME TO THIS CELESTIA DAMNED TOWN!_ " Pinkie screamed, the skies darkening with storm clouds as the pegasi had forecasted, thunder rumbling in the air alongside Pinkie's feelings. Inhaling deeply, picking up the dead creature with tears still in her eyes, she glared at all of the ponies who'd made it their life mission to make the crossbreeds the villains, and levelly said, "I hope you're happy because I'm done teaching your brats how to be functioning adults! THE LAST CLASS TO EVER BE TAUGHT BY MS. PINKAMENA DIANE PIE IS DISMISSED; GO DO WHATEVER THE FUCK IT IS YOU WERE ALL DOING, YOU FILTHY GETS!" With that said, she took the deceased creature back to Fluttershy and Gilda's cottage to bury it, leaving all of Ponyville in stunned, tear-stricken silence as the rain began to pour down on them like the skies themselves were crying at the loss of innocent life.

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! I'm aware I said I was gonna take a break, but Lady Creativity decided I needed a good flogging in her sex dungeon 'cause I'm reeling with ideas for new chapters. One of those ideas was this tragedy. As I mentioned in the first chapter, this story's not gonna be shy of the dark shit an' it's gonna acknowledge the worst aspects of human nature in these creatures. This tragedy's also apparently so devastating that no one's gonna kill me yet, not even for the Gilda*Shy situation.

Not gonna answer any reviews just yet 'cause I'm kinda shocked I finished this in three days with all of the shit I crammed into it. Also, the intensity of Pinkie's feels are starting to get to me.

Pinkie: *Sobs openly, genuine tears of guilt flood around me* I'M SO SORRY I DID THAT, BABBIE-THING! I JUST WANTED TO SAVE GILDA AND FLUTTERSHY'S BABY!

*Hugs Pinkie comfortingly, patting her on the back as she lets out a waterfall of tears down my back and over my spine* (As always: Thanks for bein' here, R&R, no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism, an' *sigh* see ya-g'night!)

Pinkie: I WANTED THE BABBIE-THING TO LIVE! WHY PONYVILLE?! _WHY?!_


	7. Birds of a Feather, Read Together

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! Still on this writing rush and we're still following one Pinkamena Diane Pie's struggle which might feel a little...jarring. I don't own MLP or any other media I introduce into this story. Also, I'm gonna call out to more than a few content creators without sayin' their names so they don't somehow get dragged into my shitfest.

Pinkie: Wyverntooth, why are you so mean?

Not sure, Pinkie. Why are you so pink?

Pinkie: Not sure, hold on.*Punches me in my weak points with a goofy smile* Oh, it's because I'm Pinkie, silly!

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Shining and Shimmer stayed there, noses almost touching with their bodies pressed up against one another. _OH MY MOM! OH MY MOM! OH MY MOM! OH MY MOM!_ Shimmer thought, blushing a new shade of red that begged to be named 'shimmer red', before her eyes widened when she remembered they were in front of other ponies which had the effect of making her start hyperventilating. The hyperventilating caused her eyelids to grow heavier while she felt the sudden desire to fall forward into the embrace of the colt who'd made her feel special eight years ago.

Her ex-coltfriend was having similar thoughts, his pulse racing at a speed that could rival the speed of a pegasus flying at the speed of sound. _OH MY CELESTIA! OH MY CELESTIA! OH MY CELESTIA! OH MY CELESTIA!_ His eyes bore into Shimmer's, transfixed by the undying love he saw in them as his eyelids became heavy and he felt tempted to lean in.

Twilight was smiling like the silly filly she was, believing her plan was flawless while her crush stared at the pair confusedly as he tried to understand what the issue was due to a lack of information. Rarity was smirking at the former item, smugness in her eyes while Spike stared indifferently at the whole exchange, chewing on a piece of wood that had fallen within his grasp before it was swatted out of his grabby paws by his babysitter. Cadence seemed too calm at the moment for it to be natural, staring at the pair with what looked to be a smile that said she knew her coltfriend wouldn't kiss another mare.

It was silent in the room, the only sound being the pair's breathing with the light of a celestial body shining down on their shimmering moment as they seemed to give into the moment. At least, that's what it seemed like before Shining opened his eyes to find he was kissing the cheek of a gasping-in-fear Shimmer who looked at him with mixed emotions flying through her zircon orbs. _Don't make this more painful than it is, Shiny._ She mentally begged, hoping that Twilight wouldn't make this any harder.

No such luck. "Shimmer," Twilight said irritably, coming to stand behind her senior and placing her hooves on either side of said mare's head to keep her still. "You have to _kiss_ and make up, not peck-on-the-cheek and make up! Try again, Shining."

"Twilight," Shining began, slowly pulling away with an apologetic expression on his face as he saw the hurt in Shimmer's eyes at how much she was trying not to disrupt his relationship with Cadence. "Don't force her to kiss me if she doesn't want to."

 _Oh my mom, thank you!_ She thought, smiling at him through her eyes because Twilight's hooves had forced her to pucker her lips.

"But she does want to!" Twilight countered, glaring at her big brother for trying to weasel out of kissing his ex-marefriend. "She loves you, Shining. _Loves_ you! She's just scared Cadence will get mad that you kissed another mare." Pointing a hoof accusingly at her foalsitter, she continued. "Now pucker up and kiss her!"

"Twilight-" Began Shining, meeting Shimmer's pleading eyes once more.

"Kiss her." Twilight interrupted, pushing Shimmer's face towards his which made him back up into Cadence.

"Twilight!" He began again, this time with a warning in his voice that socially awkward Twilight didn't recognize.

"Kiss her!" She said again, pushing Shimmer towards him even more which made him back up into a silent Cadence even more.

" _Twilight!_ " Shining tried to begin again only to be interrupted again.

" _Kiss her!_ " Said Twilight another time, desperation in her voice to help her friend in her problem.

"TWILIGHT!" Shining shouted, startling her silent. "I've been trying to tell you, she doesn't want to kiss me after what I've done. You know how hard my mistake has been on her and doing this is making it worse. I kissed her, I told her I loved her, I treated her like the only mare in the world and I _forgot_ what she told me when I left, breaking her heart in the process! Don't make this harder than it already is!" His piece finished, eyes seeming to lose focus as he'd said all that more to himself than his sister, he finished with a stomping of the hoof before he turned his attention to Shimmer. "I sincerely apologize for my sister's behavior and I'm so sorry for making you hurt the way I have. If you hate me, I completely understand and accept whatever punishment you decide is suitable for my crime, Princess." He bowed his head in shame, awaiting some sort of pain from the queen's daughter but none came.

All that came was the pit-pat of tears hitting the floor, getting him to look and find Shimmer was staring at him with adoration and love he didn't know if he could return. "Shimmer, you idiot," She said aloud to herself, doing her best to wipe her face. "You're such a cryfoal, getting worked up over the littlest things like your ex-coltfriend standing up and sitting down for you when what you really want is for him to-" She began muttering incomprehensible things to herself, getting Shining to lean forward to try to listen when he found his lips claimed by his ex, catching him completely by surprise.

Everyone's eyes were wide with surprise at the princess' actions but they became as wide as saucers when Shining's lids closed and he began returning the kiss, getting Shimmer's glowing tears to begin coming out in more force. They staid like that, forgetting the rest of the world and its inhabitants; all that mattered was that small amount of physical contact that had so much meaning to the both of them. If they'd have been asked, they'd probably deny the fact that they'd have wanted that moment to never end.

Too busy enjoying each other's lips, they didn't notice that Shimmer had reverted into her Infernal (Regal) State. Her burnt nectarine-colored coat shined, harmless sparks flying from her mane and tail as they burned brighter than a dragon's breath, while her tears evaporated as the kiss softened, deepened and intensified like the flames that danced as her tail and mane. Unknowingly, her flames crawled across her body to engulf the both of them before she opened her eyes and gasped, pulling herself away with fright. "Nonononononnonoononononononononono!" She began, holding her head in her hooves, flames becoming indigo and purple with guilt as she started hyperventilating. "I'msosorryIdidn'tmeantokissyouImeanIdidbutIdidn'tmeantokissyouthatmuch!WellIdidbutIdidn'tatthesametimeandohmymomI'msodead! I fucked up! I fucked up! I fuc-" Before she could begin crying again, Shining claimed her lips, surprising her and getting her to return the kiss with dazed eyes that closed as her mane and tail returned to normal. Shining pulled away slowly, Shimmer leaning towards him before he held her in place which made her open her eyes with slight disappointment that the kiss had ended.

"Feel better?" He asked smugly, fondly smiling at her like he had years ago which made her blush and twirl her mane nervously under his gaze. She didn't answer in words, not trusting her mouth to work after the thorough washing Shining had given it, so she merely giggled like a drunk. As soon as she did that, however, it was like the sound of a glass plate was shattered when the two of them turned to remember that they had an audience.

Twilight's eyes were wide like her smile was happy, sparks flying from her horn as her plan worked. She had her hooves under her chin as they shook with glee that her plan _actually_ worked! _OH MY CELESTIA, I'M THE GREATEST UNICORN IN THE WORLD!_ She thought proudly, her smile only growing as the two looked at her until she looked like an idiot.

Rarity chuckled like an older sister would at the antics of her younger sibling, levitating Spike onto Twilight's shoulders where he played with her mane. Cauldron was more lost than narrator while Cadence was merely...standing there, watching. Their eyes found their way to a serenely smiling Cadence, "Told you Twilight's a miracle worker, Shimmer!" Everyone but Shimmer stared at her blankly before Celestia's daughter nodded in agreement.

"She sure is. I never should've thought otherwise!" Shimmer smiled, a hoof to her cheek as she blushed in embarrassment at the gaping faces around them. Cauldron stared at everypony's face in lost confusion still, before just sighing and making the same face to fit in with the rest of them. "I guess I've just been nervous about this plan that I...Well, I guess I kinda almost ruined it!" She started chuckling at the faces everypony was making until she was rolling around on the ground, holding her sides in pain.

Cadence's expression was that of serenity incarnate as she came up to Shimmer and claimed her lips, getting Cauldron to actually gape in shock before suffering from a large nosebleed which left him unconscious, twitching at Twilight's hooves and Spike was gaping in shock. _OH MY PARENTS! SHE'S ACTUALLY PRO-LOVE!_ Spike's thoughts were broken by Shimmer blushing and pulling away from the kiss nervously, gesturing to their audience. Cadence just smiled charismatically, once more taking Shimmer's lips as her prize with great passion that Celestia's daughter began to return.

Pulling away for air, Cadence smirked like the dominator nopony she'd been as Princess Amore, she suggestively said, "I've waited eight years to take you in front of Shining, Shim-Shim, and I don't think I'll be able to stop myself after so long!" Finished speaking, she began to have a make out session with Canterlot's secret princess, her breathing labored and her wings extended to their grandeur in a way that silently told of her arousal. Shining's nose began to leak blood while Twilight and Rarity were fighting off passing out from all of the blood rushing into the red in their faces.

Before anything hotter could begin, aside from Shimmer entering her Regal State, a knock came at the infirmary doors. Cadence, pulling away from Shimmer who began to return to her 'Casual State', had narrowed eyes at the pony coming through the doors who turned out to be-"Ms. Lulamoon?" Twilight asked confusedly, most likely expecting her to be retiring for the night in her own bed. "Why are you still here? It's-" Looking to the clock on the wall, she found it to be two hours after dusk. "Eleven o'clock!"

The Great and Powerful Trixie nodded to her student's words, smiling at the filly before noticing the odd atmosphere in the room. "I know," She said, opting to question the circumstances she'd walked into afterwards. "But your attackers seem to be more...communicative." Hearing that, a once more conscious Cauldron included, the ponies in the infirmary furrowed their brows.

"Alright," Twilight began, her expression dark and menacing. "Let's communicate..." Trixie, seeing that her student needed this, nodded and lead her towards the interrogation room they'd set up. It hadn't been set up in the Royal Guard barracks to avert suspicion, instead it was in one of the boiler rooms where very few students liked to go due to its foul stench. Inside the boiler room were a few spare portable lab tables from some of the classes, separated from each other by barriers that prevented the individual attacker inside from seeing outside of the bubble they were in and to stop them from somehow creating a plan with their cohorts. Each attacker had a suppression ring around their horn while around their front legs were boots bound by retractable wires in the boots themselves to a metal band around their rib cage, forcing them to bend their front legs and either lay down with their plot in the air or stand on their hind legs with the front half of their body laid on the table in their respective interrogation chamber.

Each barrier was like a large, upside-down crystal bowl that could be seen into when given permission by the caster of the barrier in question. "Who spilled first?" Shining asked smoothly, his teeth grinding on each other, fighting the fraternal instinct to bring justice down upon these delinquents. On the way there, Shining had explained the situation to his marefriend, getting Cadence to fume at not having been there to protect her favorite filly to foalsit. A seemingly blank look adorned Twilight's face but it was apparent to those in the boiler room that she wasn't as calm as she appeared.

Beneath the purple filly's eyes were dark rings like she hadn't slept in days, the baggy eyes in question were hidden by the shadow from the bangs of her bowl-cut hair, and the way her body shivered and shook told everypony in the room that, although she needed this, she wasn't okay with this situation. "All of them began babbling like foals at ten-fifty-five, getting the guards stationed here to ascribe sudden nausea and vertigo to their voices ringing in their ears. I've sent them to the garden where medics are awaiting a chance to heal these delinquents, interrogators or guards, should these four somehow manage to harm those around them."

"Four?" Rarity asked confusedly. "But only Road Block, Marcella and Ghost Hunter are still alive?" An understanding nod was Trixie's response before Ms. Hooves and Watch Reader exited one of the chambers with a mortified interrogator being carried between them. Ms. Hooves saw the group before her companion did, getting her to change their direction to right in front of Trixie and co.

"Red Herring did this?" Trixie asked, her tone indicating that she already knew the answer but merely needed to hear it straight from the horse's mouth. The interrogator, laying down on the floor with his breath shaking and the sweat dripping down his brow into his wide eyes, nodded weakly. A sigh was all Watch Reader could offer, remaining silent in thought. Groaning, Trixie's ears folded back in annoyance as she said, "Damn. She's fooled us once and seems to think it's her mission to be problematic even now."

Watch Reader nodded silently, unnerving the younger individuals in the room with them. "Reader," Ms. Hooves said knowingly, her sole uncovered eye meeting his tired gaze. "Now isn't the time to keep important information secret." He nodded, sighing again like he had often done in the two times he'd been encountered by the group.

He cleared his throat and, in his aged, gruff and accented voice, explained. "To begin with, she's not a pony, explaining why she isn't a stain on the cobble. However, she's a native to this world, in one way or another." Once more he sighed before his whole body was racked with pain in a coughing fit that sounded as unhealthy as could be, resulting in Ms. Hooves catching him as he began to crumple in on himself.

"Don't overdo it!" She chastised compassionately, her one visible eye narrowed in concern. A nod of gratitude answered her as he returned to his former stature and continued.

"She's of a species known as the Baku. They're indigenous to the continent Mareasia, where they feed on the nightmares of other beings and replacing them with the pleasant dreams they produce as a byproduct of their dietary staple." He coughed again, crumpling down to the floor and getting Ms. Hooves to help him again. A growl of ire was the noise he made after he looked himself over to make sure he was alright before continuing, "From what she's said, she met members of the cult found here in Canterlot and followed them back to Equestria, feeding on the constant nightmares their worshiping rewarded them. When you saw her jump over the edge she had actually surrounded the area with a psychic field to generate a hallucination of her pony-self jumping over the edge."

"But why did she make everypony hallucinate that she committed suicide as a pony? And why did she the others attack me?!" Twilight asked bitterly, a grim atmosphere surrounding her as her scars seemed to glow in memory of how much they'd hurt being brought into existence.

Ms. Hooves spoke this time, Watch Reader's coughing up a lung making it difficult to explain. "She did that to prevent Jumble from catching onto the fact that she wasn't a pony or that she didn't share his beliefs. Tricking the rest of us so she could live on and bury the hatchet with him, giving her the chance to stop eating unnatural nightmares. In the case of helping attack you, she actually didn't do you any harm and had done a similar thing to the suicide situation. By surrounding you and your attackers in a psychic field, she was able to prevent them from killing either you or Spike and also give you a reason to make them pay for even being like this." Finished explaining, Ms. Hooves noticed that Twilight didn't seem altogether satisfied with the answer.

"Let me talk to her." She said simply, getting a group of protests to arise before she looked everyone in the eye to explain she wasn't going to hurt her. "Please." Watch Reader looked to everypony in the group before sighing and nodding, leading her into the barrier the baku was in with a nervous Spike on her back. They strode through the barrier's walls, an experience that could only be explained as walking through breathable pudding or dancing in a kiddie pool of melted jello.

"Good to know I can still get somepony to talk to." Red Herring said, giving Twilight a friendly smile that she understandably didn't return. The creature before her was very pig-like in the way its face was shaped. A pair of sharp inch-and-a-half tusks protruded from the bottom jaw, poking out from either side of its small, flexible snout like the snout of the tapirs Twilight had seen in books. Short fur being a middle grey-color, there was a long white stripe doing down its spine with a black stripe separating the white from the grey on either side of its spine. Grapple-like feet, the sole of each foot and the underside of each toe having relatively flat pads, with two toes for the front pair while the rear paws were just about the same but with an added pair of smaller, hook-clawed toes behind and slightly above the larger two.

It had a tail similar to a dog's, acting as a source of balance but nothing else as far as could be seen, and having rabbit-like ears atop its head. Concerning its head, there was a noticeable eye pattern in the center of its forehead, like a birthmark or a tattoo of some variety. Large shoulders indicated that it was a strong animal even though the creature had a bit of a rotund physique. Coming up to the table, Twilight realized that this creature was shorter than her by a head, giving her a leg up in the situation should she need it. She sat down, staring blankly at the baku across from her when she noticed that it had cylinders piercing along the edges of her ears and that there was a rune-covered band around its snout. "So," Twilight began flatly, getting the baku to wince slightly at the cold behavior it was receiving. "What do you know about the cult your coltfriend was a part of?"

"Enough to know that they're growing impatient and that they're numbers are made up of more than zealots and lunatics." The baku said, tapping the table to emphasize its point. "For example, many of Canterlot's citizens make up their ranks without even knowing it, the subliminal conditioning they've placed around the city making it nearly impossible for anyone to take a step without a hint being somewhere for their senses to pick up and latch onto." A look of irritation crossed Twilight's face, her brow furrowing in disgust at what this cult could do to the city if they made their move.

"Okay, then how have you kept your mind your own over the years you've been in Canterlot?" Twilight asked with a knowing smirk, recognizing the face of something that had made a mistake. It lifted its paws in resignation, knowing that she'd cornered it because it failed to cover its tracks.

"You've got me, but I know there are ways to resist the conditioning enough to think for yourself." It said pointedly, clapping its paws together in a way that made Twilight's skin crawl in a manner she found pleasant and relaxing. The clapping continued, quiet and soft but audible and noticeable, as Twilight's brain climbed from cloud one through nine to feel the dancing of sparks within her skull. Her euphoria ended not long after, fading away slowly and gently, leaving her with her mind feeling...clear. Free. Fresh! Like a pegasus had flapped away the fog around her head to give her eyes the chance to see her surroundings.

Spike chirped from on her shoulders, playing with her mane before she brought him close and found that there was a golden stripe going down the side of his body from his eyes to the tip of his tail with a six-pronged, curve-ended star on his haunches. "What the?" Twilight asked, looking at the mark curiously when she noticed that the spikes on his head were curvier, sharper while remaining flexible like a fin as only one spike remained rounded-yet-sharp as a sheath for the fin that unfolded above his head. Another fin was on the back of each forelimb and another at the end of his tail, there was something oddly cute about the way he flexed them as if only then realizing he had them. And, as one last thing that the conditioning resistance let her see, there were a pair of small, rounded nubs surfacing at the tip of his small snout.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked, knowing the answer but wanting an explanation.

The baku chuckled good-naturedly, knowingly. "Since the conditioning's existed in this city for decades, you've been exposed to it and it's clouded your mind to what's around you. When you and the Empress left the library, it's because the signs set up around the library were arranged by Jumble to make you an easier target in the gardens but the Empress was an 'unnecessary extra' so she was put to sleep by the signs. Using the sensations created from the autonomous sensory meridian response is an inventive way to brainwash a large group of individuals within a large area..." She said the last part almost applaudingly, her silver eyes narrowed even as she said it.

"'Autonomous sensory meridian response?'" Twilight asked, enjoying the fact that her senses seemed heightened. She could see that the baku in front of her had mammaries, allowing her to tell that she was speaking with a female. Looking at Watch Reader, she could see that his scruffy exterior was due to desert sands caking his body and garb. In the reflection made by the barrier, she could see that her horn was curved like an alicorn's and if she focused her magic into her eyes, she could see that that was true with her brother and Shimmer as well, both of whom were talking with Cadence whose face told her that she was all-too happy with what was happening.

Nodding, the baku said, "Yes. Although it's more commonly referred to as 'ASMR', it's still the same sensation that's triggered by olfactory, neural, visual, audio, and or mental stimuli that the brain finds pleasing and releases endorphins and other such chemicals into the system, resulting in a tingly sensation crawling down your spine from your scalp and or base of your skull." She smiled after she finished, chuckling at the awestruck look Twilight had on her face.

"How come my senses are so much stronger?"

"The triggers that are used around the city are meshed with eldritch power behind them, meaning that the triggers are doing more than relaxing your entirety. With the signs they've used, every pony in Canterlot's a sacrifice-waiting-to-happen. Should the signs change in just the right way, everypony in Canterlot would take part in an orgy-like mass suicide. Using the signs of the gods, they can turn something simple into something completely different. Brainwashing has never been so simple!" Saying this sarcastically at the end, she waved her front legs exaggeratedly.

"Can we change the signs?" Twilight asked, hope beginning to shimmer in her eyes. "Also, what do I call you besides Red Herring because I'm spiteful towards that name."

The baku scratched her chin, claws sharp but not so sharp as to be razors. "It's possible to change them, but since you don't have the original spell and I don't know it, you'd have to find each sign and change it manually. But you'd need to know the eldritch language or some dialect of it, and that kind of occult knowledge is hardly legal to acquire for someone in your situation. And you can call me Kufu." She said this with a yawn, exhaustion in her silver eyes. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm very tired from using that disguise so consistently for so long..." Finished speaking, she lowered her head down onto the table and dozed off, z's floating from her head like she were in a storybook.

Twilight's eye twitched at Kufu's aloof behavior. Ponies' lives were hanging by a thread and she was taking a nap! _Whatever, I've got what I needed. Occult knowledge...That's Cauldron's specialty!_ A giddy look crossed her face as she clapped her hooves together excitedly. She dashed out of the barrier with Spike holding onto her tail for his life before she stopped in front of her crush with eyes full of stars and her horn lighting up like one of Trixie's fireworks. "I KNOW WHAT WE'RE GOING TO STUDY TOMORROW!" She said, bouncing in place like she had sugar filling her arteries.

Cauldron's eyes were wide while his ears were folded back in slight fear of how much energy she had. "W-W-What's that?"

"THE ELDRITCH LANGUAGE!" And like that, she was on the floor, unconscious and mumbling in her sleep about the time of her life before Rarity lifted her onto her back and strode back towards the infirmary where her best friend was staying. Meanwhile, Cauldron was pale, sucking his bottom lip nervously.

 **Next day, Infirmary**

Twilight awoke with a chipper smile, knowing that she was going to study with her crush in the library. She squealed in excitement, startling Spike and Trixie into wakefulness. Spike snarled as menacingly as possible while Trixie readied a spell before they both realized that Twilight was just jumping on the bed with the biggest shit-eating grin they'd ever seen on her. Rarity was already awake, having brought the container of her old fragment for Twilight to use for whatever, but if she hadn't been she was now.

"I'M GOING TO BE STUDYING WITH CAULDRON!" Twilight said ecstatically, bouncing between the infirmary beds. The others in the room smiled, the hole in the roof having been fixed thanks to Shimmer and Cadence's cooperative excellence, before Rarity chuckled teasingly.

"You know he doesn't really want to study, right?" Rarity asked, her tone making her sound like Twilight's older sister.

Her words made Celestia's protege slow her bouncing to a stop before her eyes widened and she dived under the covers of her bed. "Nononononononononononononononononononononononono!" She said fervently, shaking her head vigorously, making Rarity laugh much to a mock-glaring Trixie's mock-exasperation.

"Twilight," Trixie began, coming to look the nervous filly in the eye with a serene smile. "You'll be fine. Cauldron's going to be just as nervous as you are, more so now that I think about it."

"B-B-B-But what if he wants to k-k-kiss?!" She asked in what sounded like terror. "What i-i-i-i-if he w-w-w-wants to d-d-d-date?! Wh-?!" Spike stuck his paw in her mouth, playing with her tongue like the child he was.

"Twilight!" He said without a care in the world, grabbing her tongue and pulling on it, much to her displeasure.

"Thyp, moh! Gif so!" She commanded, pulling her tongue out of his grasp before he tried to stick his face in her mouth curiously, getting her to spit his face out of her mouth and wipe her tongue on her hooves in disgust. "That's gross, Spike! Never do that again." Slamming her cleft hoof down on the bed, making it shake, she emphasized her statement with a look of serious disapproval. Before she could look at him like that for long, however, his eyes began to well up with tears that his caretaker was mad at him. "No, don't cry! I didn't want to make you sad, Spike!" She came down to hug him close, getting him to hold onto her tightly, desperate to keep his 'mother' close to him. He eventually calmed down and by that time Rarity had more ideas to tease her sororal figure.

"I bet you'd make an amazing stay-at-home mother, darling. Cauldron might think so, too..." She left that hanging there, getting Twilight to connect the dots and dive under the blanket again, blushing up a storm as well as bleeding a fountain out of her nose with a look of shame on her face. The sight of the blood stain on both the floor and the blankets was enough to make Rarity laugh but the look of blushing shame was enough to make her sprain a lung.

Even Trixie had to laugh a little at poor Twilight's expression of blushing shame, the bloodstain on the blankets and on the floor only made it a lot funnier but in a more sinister sense outside of context. A knock came at the door, getting Trixie to open it since Twilight was resisting the urge to pass out while Rarity laughed her ass off. Opening the door, Trixie found one irate Shining Armor dragging a terrified-looking Bubbling Cauldron by his tail. "Apologize for bewitching my sister, you asshole!"

"We've been over this: I didn't bewitch Twilight!" Came Cauldron's whimpering, frightened shaking being the other sign that he was terrified beyond belief. "Please don't hurt me!" He begged, getting Shining to glare hell at the young stallion and drag him in front of his LSBFF.

"Shining," Twilight began, her eyes glowing with magic while her head remained overshadowed by the blanket. "Don't hurt him." When she said that, she channeled magic through her horn to cast a basic illusion spell which she used to make her appear as a hellish filly with black eyes that held only a red pupil as they wept blood. The spell lasted only a second or two, but it had the effect of unnerving the Lieutenant of the Royal Guard enough to leave her crush alone. She took the opportunity to get out from under the blankets, wrap her mouth around the Cauldron's fishtail-braided tail and drag him out of the infirmary with impressive strength for a filly two-thirds his size.

Spike, itching his ears with his paws, saw his caretaker leaving him and chased after her with great haste, running on all fours like the whelp he was. Everyone else merely stared after the trio, looking to a confused-looking Cauldron who wasn't sure how to feel about his crush dragging him to the library. Twilight, getting a better hold on Cauldron's tail, dragged him passed several students with a look of almost-snooty pride on her face while most of the students looked at Cauldron with either pity or amusement or even a mix of the two.

Eventually reaching the library, Twilight spit out his tail with a look of mixed emotions. "Why do you taste like cookie dough?" That question got Cauldron to blush awkwardly while other students looked at her oddly with how that was phrased, a few doing the best to stifle laughter. "Do you live in a bakery or something, because unless you eat cookie dough regularly, you shouldn't taste like cookie dough!" A look of shame came across the young stallion's face, remaining silent as they staid there in the middle of the library with several others staring at them although Twilight didn't notice.

After a few moments of silence, Twilight huffed and telekinetically lifted Cauldron above her as she strode up the stairs to the advanced section where she hoped to find some books on the eldritch language. Cauldron, looking ashamed of himself for his cowardice with Shining and his inability to act masculine enough to take Twilight to the library, just allowed himself to be swept away by the current that was Twilight's will. "I do live in a bakery." He eventually conceded, looking away from Twilight's surprised face.

"Seriously?" She asked, astounded. This was news to her. Cauldron was almost always silent in class and whenever they spoke before she was attacked, he'd attacked like a jerk, so anything she learned about him was information to be stored for later.

He merely nodded, not proud of his lineage nor confident in his voice.

"Then why's your talent in the occult and supernatural?" Twilight asked, getting Cauldron to quietly shrug, unsure of why he was even doing this if it was going to turn out this poorly.

"If I knew that, I'd have told my parents so they would accept the fact that I don't want to make food that does what I'm named after..." He said that glumly, being set down on his hooves which allowed him to lightly kick at the floor quietly.

"Is Bubbling Cauldron not your real name?" Twilight asked slowly, seeing the look of self-disappointment in his eyes.

A sigh of honesty escaped him as he answered, "My birth name is Cookie Crumble and I've been trying to get it legally changed, but since I'm still a minor I can't and I've had to ask the teachers to call me by my chosen name." He sat his rear on a cushion, looking at the bookshelf for anything to distract him from what he felt was a judgmental look on Twilight's face before he saw a book he often read concerning the supernatural whenever he was feeling down. "Ah, the Krivbeknih. My old friend..." He brought it down from the shelf and held it close to his chest, the scarred, leather cover covered with runes emitting a warmth that soothed him in his times of weakness.

To him, staring at the cover as he held it to his body, the world seemed to fade into nothing. All around him was emptiness, leaving him alone with the tome he'd trusted so much in. Without realizing it, his eyes grew heavy and closed, letting its whispers envelope his thoughts and spirit. It was as if a rising, double helix of runes was surrounding him, creating a seaweed forest of shapes and sizes in the forms of symbols. Eventually, the shapes and sizes changed in appearance from symbols to geometrical, Euclidean forms. What appeared to be tendrils made of cubes swam around him like they were fish while sharp, star-like entities grew and contracted in on themselves against moving, triangular pyramids that seemed to be moving against the black, spherical bubbles that defied the nature of this place.

"That book," Twilight began curiously, waking him from his reverie with a slight start. "Is that a book on the occult and supernatural like I mentioned we'd be studying yesterday?" He looked to the book quietly before nodding, giving her a glance as he inhaled and exhaled slowly.

"Yes, yes it is. Whenever I feel sad or lost, and the library's open, I come in and just...spend time with this book. I don't even need to turn the pages to read anymore thanks to this book." He said all of this with a gentle, grateful smile as he slowly, hesitantly placed it in Twilight's hooves. "Please, don't hurt it. Please, take care of it." The way he said that, looking into Twilight's violet eyes with his own pure, cerulean orbs that held such faith in her that he was trusting her with something he viewed as incredibly precious to his being.

Twilight took it with shaky, anticipatory hooves and the moment its leather cover touched her, she felt different. As if a new world had opened up around her and a new mind was driving her body, she carefully opened the small book and began reading it without knowing what the symbols meant as they glowed. It was like the symbols were engraving themselves into her memory, asking her to use them with care and wisdom. Unsure of how much time had passed, eventually Twilight closed the book with great hesitation to find Cauldron staring at her with an adoring smile before he realized she saw him staring which got him to open up a random book and stuff his nose into it.

She smiled charmingly at him, making him blush the same shade Shimmer did when Shining had kissed her. "This d-date's turning out amazing so far, Cookie Crumble." When she said his birth name she said it with adoration and compassion, not with emphasis and disappointment like his parents did, he smiled at her with a heavy, happy blush.

"I think, as long as you say it, I might be able to like hearing that name-" Interrupting him with a peck on the cheek, Twilight blushed so hard that they both passed out next to one another, cuddling for warmth.

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! I wanted to do somethin' a little less on the dark side and more on the strange-yet-adorkable side. And, judging by the fact that no one's killed me yet, I succeeded somewhat. My biggest worry with Cauldron/Crumble's been the possibility that he turns into a Mary Sue/Gary Stu which is somethin' I've nearly done with Spike and Pinkie in the past few chapters' rough drafts!

My good friend and fellow author whose account name I lost (Sorry) gave me several great ideas and criticisms that I've taken to use in my works, one of them was Crumble's backstory. In order to make him an asshole we could like, he needed a good reason to act like a dick at times. How do we do that?! Give him struggles that some of us can relate to. Parents don't approve of your life choices? That works. Financial issues? Totally! Dead parents? Cliche.

In canon, lots of the ponies get cutie marks that seem to follow trends when in families with there being obvious exceptions. The Apples, kinda obvious as an example but fuck it. What'd happen if someone in your family, a long line of blank, didn't want to do that thing your family's done for generations and doesn't like doing that thing? That's Crumble's struggle: parental shame and self-disapproval for letting them down as well as not fulfilling his own dreams. He's also not a macho, giving him more struggle which we all have.

He and Twilight's nervousness is somethin' I enjoyed writing as it gave me something to use that I don't use in my writing very often: stuttering. Two nervous, socially inept dorks going out on a date would result in a lot of stuttering. The Krivbeknih and the reference to Euclidean were just my enjoyment of the Lovecraft Mythos' philosophies surfacing, but those do play a part in the story so remember them.

Crumble's trust in an 'obviously'-evil tome isn't odd, nor is it wrong in his case. He's a coward, hates himself because he feels like a failure and can't decide if he wants to please himself or his parents. What better than an eldritch manuscript to calm your fears? Twilight's reading it isn't odd, either. She's an egghead, a bookworm an' a dictionary-lover, she'd read anythin' if it's interesting. Also, she needs to know the Eldritch Language to help save Canterlot, so she'd need to read.

One, last thing: I listened to "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" for the last chunk of the chapter. Concerning your question, Echo...I don't like spoilin' surprises ya might enjoy. With all that said, (As always: Thanks for bein' here, R&R, no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)


	8. Red Skies at Night, Trier's Delight

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! My muse-I love ya, bitch!-hasn't shut up an' wants me to keep writing so...Yeah. Pinkie?

Pinkie: Yeah?

Any comments you'd like to make?

Pinkie: *Tapping her chin thoughtfully, grins* I don't think I need to comment on you, this time.

Okay...Why?

Pinkie: *Suspiciously* No reason.

This isn't over. Anyway, Hasbro Inc. has trademarked MLP which means I can't monetize this story.

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Spike poked at Twilight's cheek which didn't seem to wake her from her cuddles with Cauldron. _Geez, is this what Silverclaw and Diamond Shiv were like? I really hope not._ He poked again, barely getting a response besides bringing herself closer to the nearest heat source which just so happened to be her crush. A look of boredom crossed Spike's face, unsure of what to do now that he'd explored everything within a given radius from his caretaker and having exhausted every prior attempt to wake Twilight up. _I guess if I can't beat them, I might as well join them._ He thought, yawning and curling up in between their chests, warming him up and lolling him to sleep with the sounds of their beating hearts and breathing.

Not too far away was Shining Armor with a pair of binoculars, glaring at the stallion cuddling his little sister. Rarity had tagged along as well, leaving Shimmer and Cadence alone which would probably result in an awkward conversation later, but she needed to make sure the Lieutenant of the Royal Guard didn't ruin his little sister's date with her crush. In between his grit teeth was a chocolate-coated biscuit stick to sate his oral fixation while Rarity kept him away from buying cigarettes. "Just look at them down there," He said suspiciously, chewing on the stick with much aggression that almost surprised the filly beside him had she not gotten to know him. "Plotting to corrupt her innocence!"

Rarity, looking from the pair and back at Shining, blinked plainly. "Yes, darling," She began sarcastically. "He's obviously planning to corrupt your twelve year-old sister whose thoughts are already focused around studying, a certain boy and double entendre while he's sleeping!" Pulling out a stick from the box with the word (A/N:add a c in front of the k) Poky trademarked on it, chewing it slowly while savoring the delicious snack. Shining looked to her with an expression of annoyance at her efforts to debunk his clearly solid logic!

"Well excuse me, Empress, for trying to protect my little sister!" He said defensively, getting Rarity to stare at him blankly before he returned to looking through the binoculars that he didn't even need since they were only a level above them and could see both of them clearly. "I don't like him. He's too afraid, too suspicious, too-"

"Too much better at being coltfriend material?" Rarity asked knowingly, propping her head on her hoof against the railing of the level they were on. She didn't even need to turn to look at him to see that he was seething, his eyes boring into her at her reminding him that he fucked up, however she did anyways to look him dead in the eye blankly. "Don't act like it's not getting under your skin, darling. You're not very hard to read, you know?" She said plainly, her use of the word 'darling' becoming more and more noticeable as well as more and more natural feeling for all parties.

"I'm not jealous that he's being a gentlecolt to my little sister, because he isn't!" Shining defended, getting Rarity to grin as she turned back to look at the cuddling trio.

"Never did I mention his status as a gentlecolt, Shining. I just said he's better at being coltfriend material, you're the one who said he was being a gentlecolt to your sister." Finished speaking, she turned away from the railing, thwapping Shining's nose with the tuft of curled hair at the end of her leonine tail while he glared after her as she started reading a comic. Shining turned back to see that all three of them had vanished, getting him to look all over before he realized they had woken up and strolled along to continue their date.

 _Oh,_ Shining thought with relief. _Thank Celestia, they didn't see me!_ A very loud, orgasmic squeal could be heard from somewhere within the school, getting Shining's uniform to tighten while Rarity's face turned bright pink. _Cadence, please don't be so loud._ He mentally begged, knowing that noise anywhere and knowing she was a squealer when she was in the moment.

Twilight and Cauldron had been going about their date when they heard that squeal, recognizing it for what it was and blushing up storms. Cauldron, lowering himself onto a pillow, laid there while Twilight sat down in a chair across from him. _Great job, Cauldron. First you get foalnapped by her brother, next she drags you to the library, then you start sleeping with her and now you're getting blue balls because some mare's having the time of her life and wants all of Equestria to know it! Wonderful study session so far, Cauldron! Ten out of ten!_ He berated himself, guilt across his blushing face at the awkward silence that had surfaced between the two of them. _Think of something, you idiot! I don't know what to think about besides my hard on. Say something to her to get your mind off of it! Like what, I'll probably get even bluer balls from thinking about her-NO! Say something! Anything to break this ice! Well...Okay._

He took a few slow breaths before making his pitch with a blush that could rival the reddest tomato, "How do y-y-you t-t-t-think the d-d-d-date's going so far?" Cauldron asked nervously, regretting opening his mouth the second he did. _YOU FOOL, YOU FUCKED IT UP! SHE'S GOING TO THINK YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!_ Twilight's blushing, contemplatively placed hoof to her chin made it clear that she was actually thinking on his question which calmed him down a bit. _Wait, she's actually thinking about it! You can save this, Cauldron, just play it cool..._ He'd been wearing a smile before that thought crossed his mind. _How do I do that?_

In Twilight's mind, she was flipping her lid. _WHAT DO I SAY?! WHAT DO I DO?! Okay, Twilight, you can work with this. Just play it cool, and everything'll be fine...How do I act cool?!_ "U-Um, I think-k-k-k it's g-g-g-going g-g-great! W-W-W-W-Wouldn't y-y-you agree, C-C-Crumble?" At the affectionate use of his birth name, he blushed even harder with a trickle of blood dripping from his nostrils. He no doubt had been imagining Twilight and himself engaging in passionate, intimate activities where she used his birth name after reaching the climax of their journey.

A nod answered her, his head lowered and his eyes meeting Twilight's. "I-I-I-I t-t-t-t-think i-i-i-i-it's g-g-g-going alr-r-r-r-right for my first-t-t-t-t-t-t one in my l-li-li-life-fe-fe." He stuttered nervously, his face as red as could be possible for the lime green stallion. "Um, enough about me, let's talk about you! What was your old school like, Twilight?"

Said filly smiled, her blush diminishing slightly, at the change in topic from the fact that she was on an actual date with her crush who had a crush on her as well. "Well, it wasn't nearly as interesting as this one, but an average school day lasted a total of eight hours and we had decent enough lunches when the chef was Ms. Gusto. She could cook one hell of a broccoli souffle!" Her stomach growled at the mention of the delicious food she'd eaten back in her old school, getting her to fold her ears back in embarrassment. "Sorry, guess it's time to 'feed the beast' as the old saying goes. Wanna continue our date outside, get some lunch perhaps?" She offered, getting Cauldron to nod excitedly at the thought of his crush wanting to continue their date.

"Sure," Cauldron said chipperly, stutter all but vanishing. "I know a nice diner not too far away from here. Unless you had an idea of where we should go, of course." Twilight nodded at his suggestion, grinning at the way the day was turning out, as they left the library with the Krivbeknih in Twilight's saddlebag. "Alright then, let's be on our way, my lady." Taking a small bow, he gestured for her to go first through the library doors which received him a courteous bow from the young mare before him.

Thanks to their small nap after interacting with the Krivbeknih and its knowledge as well as Twilight's unimpeded brain, they now both understood the correct terminology of their race despite the knowledge being drowned by the runes the cult was using. Leaving Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, they strode a couple blocks completely unaware that Shining was dragging Rarity along in the crowd to keep an eye on them before reaching the diner where they sat down inside and ordered a couple dandelion burgers. As they watched the cook create their meal like a master, they made idle chitchat. "So, where did you go to school before going to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns?"

Cauldron asked nonchalantly, nopony in the diner seeming to take any notice of the young potential couple. "I went to Canterlot Middle School where I'd attended classes from kindergarten to eighth grade. After I enrolled for C.S.G.U., I was given an audience and the required egg test where I hatched Spike into the world...and now I'm here, on a date with you and about to eat a delicious-looking dandelion burger with fries in the Sunburned Diner." She said, seeming like she was about to continue before she began munching on her burger with moans of appreciation. "My compliments to the chef: this is amazing!" Hearing that, the mare behind the counter smiled appreciatively.

"Why thank you, deary. I'm glad you like it!" She turned to Cauldron and gestured towards Twilight. "She's even more of a keeper than you said, Cauld." Waggling her eyebrows, she left the two alone to enjoy their meal while the stallion glared in embarrassment at the diner mare's back as she began cooking another order.

"Ugh," Cauldron groaned exasperatedly, getting Twilight to look at him curiously, having heard none of the mare's words as she enjoyed the meal with a few packets of ketchup and mustard as well as few dabs of relish. And for extra measure, looking at her date as she added to her food, she put some malt vinegar and salt and pepper on her fries. "She always teases me!"

Twilight looked to her date curiously, nomming on a few fries with a tiny cup of ketchup as she did. "Is she bullying you?" She asked bluntly, getting Cauldron to look at her funnily.

"No," He said confusedly. "Why would you think that?"

Shrugging, she savored the fry before answering. "Bullies constantly tease their victims and you said she always teases you, so two plus two equals four." Cauldron thought over her words, seeing how her logic added up before explaining.

He waved away her worries with a charming grin. "She's not a bully, Twilight, but she does tease me. Only thing is, her teasing's playful and friendly. She's not trying to hurt my feelings, but she's trying to get a rise out of me like Rarity did with you before Shining dragged me into the infirmary."

A look of embarrassment crossed her face. "Yeah, sorry about that. He's a little..." She trailed off, looking for the appropriate word. "'Zealous', about things important to him."

"In his position, I'd probably be like that if my younger sibling was going to go out on a date with an older pony. Thankfully, though," Cauldron said with a glimmer of playfulness in his eyes as he placed a hoof to his chin. "He couldn't leave a scratch on my pretty face."

Twilight shook her head. "No, I just wouldn't let him. Besides, I'm the pretty one out of the two of us." She dug into her burger slowly, trying to enjoy it in its entirety for as long as possible.

"What does that make me, then?"

"The spiffy one." She answered simply, getting Cauldron to look at her oddly before digging into his meal as well. They ate in silence, allowing the atmosphere to cool after all of the talking they'd done outside of intelligent babbling, before the check came in. "Six bits, that's not too much!" Twilight said chipperly, slightly astounded at the price being so low compared to the quality of the meal they'd eaten.

"You don't eat out much, do you?" Cauldron asked, bringing out the mentioned number of silver bits he had in his wallet which he seemed to pull out of thin air. Twilight looked to him curiously, unsure what he meant.

"What do you mean? I eat outside all the time after school." Her response got Cauldron to chuckle good-naturedly at her words.

"No, I mean you don't go out to eat at restaurants that often. And, judging by the way you answered, I'd say I was right on the money. Here you go, Cashgrab." He said the last part to the mare who'd cooked for them, a grateful expression on his face for not ruining the first date in his life.

"Take care, you two. Oh, and Twilight," The now named Cashgrab said chipperly, getting a curious Twilight to look at her. "Take care of him, too." With that said, the black licorice-colored mare returned to her job, leaving the two to continue their date.

"How did she know my name?" She asked, staring at Cauldron with a blank expression on her face and a single, raised eyebrow. Noticing the nervous sucking of his bottom lip and folding of his ears, Twilight's gaze darkened slightly. "What have you said behind my back, Cauldron?" The way she said that was very threatening, begging him to destroy her perception of everypony around her just a little bit more to push her over the edge.

"Nothing bad, I swear!" Cauldron answered fearfully, backing up into an empty cart that started to roll downhill before a random pegasus brought it back to its place and dropped it on his left hind leg. The result of that mistake was for Cauldron to bite his lip, drawing blood as he fought the instinct to shriek in pain of breaking a limb. A few minutes of his frightened, pained gasps later and he spoke, whimpering in pain. "I would just tell her about the moments I saw you, what I said, what you said and-Celestia damn this hurts! Let's go back to the infirmary to continue this conversation there?"

A nod from a blushing Twilight was the only answer he got as they made their way back to the school and heard another squeal, only this one was more of excitement than of bliss which they didn't want to question at the moment. When they got to the infirmary, it smelled of sex; hot, sweaty, passionate and vigorous sex. The two teenagers' reactions were understandable, with Twilight going over to sit on her bed while Cauldron laid on the only other usable one to hide his erection. Clearing her throat awkwardly, Twilight used her telekinesis to fashion a firm splint around Cauldron's broken leg before she spoke. "So, um, what sorts of things did you tell Ms. Cashgrab?"

Cauldron sighed, going to take a few pain killers to dull the hurting of his leg being broken while having to walk with only three legs, making for quite an interesting show as he strode over to the cabinet to investigate what medications were what. As he moved to the cabinet, he unintentionally flashed Twilight his 'fifth' leg, making her blush with a fountain of blood escaping her nostrils. Before he could turn around to speak, Twilight sat up and stuffed tissues into her nostrils, opting to breath out of her mouth for the time being until her nose stopped spilling the currency of life all creatures called a bodily fluid. As he turned around, he saw Twilight smiling at him sweetly, getting him to blush, before he noticed she had tissues in her nose.

"Uh," He shrugged, knowing better than to question his date on her behavior during this 'trying' time. "I told her about the day you and I met, how you tripped me and how I got snippy with you to keep up the illusion that I'm actually mysterious, badass and dangerous before I got a good look at you and started to lose my grip on the mask." Cauldron said all of that, trying to avoid Twilight's eyes out of embarrassment before he found the little, 'leaking' mare hugging his neck.

"You're even more attractive when you're flustered, Crumble." She said that into his ear, getting his nostrils to flair as his heart beat faster and his loins swelled with blood. Twilight, having said it in such a way that it sounded both seductive _and_ innocent, was grinning maniacally at the techniques she'd read about in magazines to rile up stallions. Her vaginal juices were already dripping down her thighs but thanks to her efforts and her date's reaction, she was _sopping!_

Moving her mouth closer to his ear, she began to lick it and nibble, getting him to lower himself into the pleasurable act until he was laying down on his legs and Twilight was sitting on her plot. _OH MY CELESTIA! OH MY CELESTIA!_ They both thought, the pheromones in the air clouding their judgment as well as their thoughts besides 'must fornicate'. Eventually growing tired of that, she moved her mouth in front of his and gave him her first kiss, taking his in the process. It started as a simple kiss before she licked his lips, asking for entry which he nervously but eagerly granted to her, and turned into a full blown make out session.

Everything around them could've been on fire and they wouldn't have noticed, so engrossed in one another's mere existence that they didn't realize they had an audience. Standing in the doorway was a blushing Rarity alongside Cadence who had Shining Armor on a muzzled leash and a giddy Shimmer who had a sleeping Spike in her saddlebag. Twilight and Cauldron continued, their groins driving them more than their heads, although in Cauldron's case he was but it was his second head he was using.

So caught up in their swapping of spit, Cauldron made to stand to move forward before his broken leg broke the mood and an uncomfortable cough alerted the two of them to their audience. The two of them blinked a coupe of times before they vanished in puffs of dust, Twilight hiding underneath her blanket while Cauldron used Trixie's masterful exit technique of throwing down a smoke bomb and teleporting the hell out of dodge. A muffled squeal of utter horror at being caught in such an embarrassing situation came from under the blanket, getting Cadence to hand the leash over to Shimmer who held it with such a giddy smile on her face she had sparks flying off her head. "Twilight," Cadence began, lifting the blanket slightly with one hoof only for her favorite foal-to-sit to yank it down violently.

"NO!" Twilight said vehemently, not even giving her a chance to make her pitch.

"Um, okay. But, aren't you going to tell us how the date went?" She made to lift the blanket again, this time with her mouth only for Twilight to use her magic to keep it over her and hide her from the light.

"YOUR SCREWING AROUND IN HERE MADE IT WEIRD!" Twilight proclaimed, pointing an accusing hoof through the blanket at her foalsitter. "Speaking of which, WHAT THE HELL?! I THOUGH HOMOSEXUALITY WAS LOOKED DOWN UPON AMONG NOBILITY, SHIMMER?!" An awkward chuckle left the red-and-blonde mare, getting Twilight to glare at her through the blanket before the sound of a thunder storm approaching made her yelp in surprise and wake Spike from his nap.

 **In the storm**

A young pegasus mare was being attacked mercilessly by a pair of adult cockatrices, one of them being the turkey-like subspecies, their avian beaks pulling at her wings from both sides in an attempt to rip her apart. She screamed, the clouds becoming louder and more dangerous, lightning bolts dashing right through the five foot long feathered wing of the quadrupedal, turkey-headed beast tugging on her right wing. The monster released her wing, crying out in pain as its wing caught fire while it fell to the ground miles below. Its yellow, petrifying eyes did nothing to her now as it fell away, hurt and about to die.

The other one was tugging at her left wing more vigorously, getting her to start flapping both of her two foot long wings in an attempt to escape. Lightning danced around them madly, the bolts being of varying colors and brightness, as if trying to decide whether to strike or not. Another scream left the blue mare, her magenta eyes full of desperation for freedom as she felt the tendons and ligaments in her wing begin to tear from the cockatrice's efforts. Its bright blue eyes gleamed with predatory instinct, the glee at the knowledge that it would feed its young getting it to start leaving lacerations on its prey's body with its wicked talons. Its prey cried out again, getting it to pull harder before it felt it dislocate and begin to tear off, only for the pegasus to rear her hind legs and strike the cockatrice in the stomach with lightning, thunder and rain gathering around her hooves.

On impact, the elements of the storm exploded on the cockatrice's body, shocking its nervous system with the lightning, soaking its feathers in the rain and causing its internal organs to burst from how powerful the thunder was. It released her damaged wing, getting her to flap over to the nearest cloud which she barely managed to reach, and fell on top of its accomplice, smashing it and the barely-hanging-on chicks underneath it in the process which resulted in a large splattering of blood. From atop the cloud, the mare took a few deep breaths before screaming at the top of her lungs for several minutes on end, tears leaving her eyes at having taken the life of another creature and enduring such pain.

Eventually, long after her throat had gone so hoarse it began to leak blood, she began sobbing softly, profusely apologizing to the creatures she'd just murdered. Not that they could hear her or her them, but the damage was done and there she stood. Alone. Her wing dislocated and miles above any civilization. She had nothing left to do but to wash her once clean hooves clean with her tears rolling off of her hydrophobic fur-covered limbs. Her tears rolled down her face and cheeks, dropping into and through the cloud to mix with the raindrops falling down to the earth far below.

She looked at her cleft hooves with utter disgust and horror, wiping off her legs with them like she'd be able to remove them if she tried hard enough. "DAMN IT! THIS WASN'T A PART OF THE PLAN! YOU FUCKED UP, DASHIE!" Came her cry of self-loathing, slamming her hooves down on the cloud, making it rumble with thunder and crash with lightning. On her haunch was a cloud, a rainbow-colored lightning bolt striking from it, while her mane and tail were color-coordinated naturally with the hues of the rainbow. "NO ONE KNOWS YOU'RE UP HERE AND NO ONE WILL FIND YOU BODY AFTER THE CLOUDS DRIFT OVER THE MOUNTAINTOPS!" Her words were muffled by the clouds of water she stood in. _I'll never find Fluttershy, I'll never join the Wonderbolts and I'll never make another sonic rainboom!_

Falling onto her good wing, head in her hooves, shuddering as she curled in on herself in anticipation for the Reaper's blade to harvest her so she might be taken to the Great Plains beyond the Veil. Eventually she fell asleep like that, the hydrophobic qualities of her fur being spent as the clouds soaked her in their own tears, while the peak of a mountain top bumped into her. This didn't wake her, so engrossed in her approximation to the sweet embrace of Death was she, that she didn't notice that she was sliding down the snow capped peak of the Summit of the Gods until she felt stone underhoof. "What the?!" Before she could say anything further, she found herself atop the dead carcass of her bipedal, former assailant. In that moment, her feathers ruffling and puffing up to make her look bigger, she then heard the weak chirping of a newborn. "Oh no." She said in horror, the weak chirps tearing at her heartstrings, before she hefted the bipedal cockatrice's wing above her head and off of herself. "Please don't be dead! I can't stand anymore death on my hooves, _please DON'T BE DEAD!_ " Were her cries before she head an agonized craw from the quadrupedal cockatrice underneath the bipedal one which she discovered to be the male thanks to the phallus slapping her in the face as she moved him closer to the mountainside of the large cliff they were on.

Removing the male from his place on top of his mate and chicks, she saw that the quadrupedal female was still alive, if just barely. Her petrifying, wicked golden eyes dared the rainbow dashed mare to harm her chicks, four foot long, black-feathered wing acting as a barrier between the mare and her mostly-all-dead chicks. "I'm not going to hurt your babies, Mama Cockatrice..." Dash began cautiously, moving her muzzle closer to the enormous bird's wing before she flinched back when 'Mama' putted at her dangerously. "Please, I don't want to see them die anymore than you do. Let me move your wing and I'll save as many as I can. I swear on your last dying breath and my very life! _Please!_ "

One of the chicks, a male, crawled out from under his mother's wing to inspect the newcomer curiously much to Mama's displeasure. She made to rise to protect her chick but cried out in pain when she attempted to put weight on her broken legs, leaving the colorful chick to investigate without his mother's consent. The chick was rather bulky, being about the size of a medium sized dog at the shoulder, with bright feathers going down his spine from his neck to end at his tail in a very flamboyant mid-fan of a tail. His colors were primarily gentle blue, prominent brown, soft white and autumn orange while his wattle was a poignant red that reminded Dash that she'd taken this little guy's blood-red-wattled father. Like his wounded mother, he was quadrupedal with a gas pouch near his gullet which began to swell up with the stomach gases produced from the digestion of food he'd been brought.

The interesting thing about him, though, was that he had heterochromia iridum where one eye was bright blue and the other was wicked yellow. Coming up to Dash curiously, he pecked experimentally at her mane and found it to be inedible, getting him to move towards her bleeding and dislocated wing before he was ushered back by Dash's hoof. "Sorry, pally," She said with a half-mirthless chuckle. "But I'm not on the menu." As if he understood her, he moved towards the carcass of his father and pecked and nudged against him in an attempt to wake him up. _Oh my Celestia, what have I done?_ She thought regretfully, watching as the chick chirped and cooed to wake up the father he'd had his whole life and would never enjoy his first flight with. Even Dash knew that the first flight was the most important part of any flying creature's life as it matured and that family was imperative to proper development of growing avians.

Chirping and cooing, the chick eventually gave up after placing his head to his father's chest before rearing back his head and beginning the process of eating his remains. Dash tried to look away, horrified that she had caused this and that she was there to witness such a gruesome act, but she couldn't bring herself to avert her oval-pupiled eyes. Feather flew everywhere as the chick tore into the older male, flaring up his one foot long wings in aggression as he tore through the flesh as best he could with his sharp beak. He eventually made it past his skin and muscle, eating what he could before moving onto the good stuff inside, the organs being his target. Tearing out and eating the lungs with gusto, he left the heart hanging there, ruptured and sagging pathetically. Ripping into the stomach, he began to eat the contents within like the chick he was, and moved onto the livers next.

At one point or another, he stopped eating to lay down underneath his now contented mother's wings and sleep. Dash's eyes were wide and traumatized, before she looked to Mama and saw that she had passed after her chick returned to the nest, getting her to crumple to her knees in guilt at the sight of the fearful-now-calmed look on Mama's face. She eventually got herself together long enough to cautiously approach Mama's head and close her eyes mournfully, "You might have wanted me dead, but it was so your babies could live, and now that duty falls to me; Rainbow Dash. On my honor, as a pegasus of Cloudsdale and the best friend of veterinary-in-training Fluttershy, I will save your remaining son..." She said that sadly, tears falling down her face as she saw the sunset as it really was: a blurring of the cold, harsh and dark ground with the warm, gentle and bright sky that she had lived in. "Are we automatons in a greater game of chance?" Dash asked, a weak smile gracing her lips as she stared into the twilight. "Do we make our own decisions? Or are we killing each other for nothing more than something greater's amusement?"

She didn't know when, but at some point after the sun had set and the Mare in the Moon was staring down on Equestria, Dash was taken underneath Mama's wing by the shivering chick. _I'll make this right, Mama Cockatrice...I promise!_ With that last thought, the pegasus mare with color-coordinated rainbow color wing and tail feathers.

 **The next morning**

Roused from her sleep by a chirping, Rainbow Dash opened her eyes to find the heterochromatic eyes of the chick staring back at her. With a yawn that slurred a word or two, she said, "Morning, tanks for taking me under your mother's wing." She blinked at her expression of gratitude. "'Tanks'? I mean thanks, but Tank sounds like a nice name to call you. After all, you're pretty tank-y for a baby bird...How's about it? You okay with being called 'Tank'?" She asked the question coolly, her morning grogginess leaving yesterday's tragedy out of her conscious mind for the time being. Chirping in response, the chick curled up underneath her wing for warmth. "Tank it is then." Rainbow said in a friendly manner, drifting back to sleep from both the cold and the emotional roller coaster she'd had the day prior. "Sleep well, Tank."

They drifted off to sleep, forgetting that the crushed remains of Tank's siblings were surrounding them, and enjoying a mandatory cuddling to comfort their traumatized minds.

 **Several hours later**

Dash woke up first this time, feeling her fur and feathers were matted with not only literal blood but metaphorical blood as she felt unclean on a deep, emotional level as well as a physical one. She ruffled her wing feathers together, rousing Tank from his sleep. "Hey, sleepy head," Dash said softly, nuzzling his beak carefully, trying not to agitate her new companion in his time of emotional instability. "We've gotta get moving." Tank chirped as he awoke, nodding to her words intelligently. _I need to do some research on cockatrices some time._ With that in mind, she slowly lifted Mama Cockatrice's wing with her good wing, exposing them to the blaring sunrise's rays. "Woah..."

They could see all of Equestria from the clifftop, from the Macintosh Hills to Neighagra Falls. Tank looked to it all familiarly, not numbed to the view but obviously used to it enough to give Dash a smug look, taking a deep breath before waking his new caretaker with a cluck. She looked to him before realizing that he was gesturing for them to get a move on, that is until Tank directed her to his parents and siblings in a depressed manner.

"...You want to bury them?" She asked carefully, knowing she wasn't very tactful when it counted. Tank shook his head, nodding up to the clouds and spinning around in a circle. Dash stared at him confusedly for a second before it donned on her, "Oh! You want me to start a tornado around them?!" He nodded affirmatively, getting Dash to stare at him incredulously. "I don't know if you've noticed, Tank, but I can't fly with my wing dislocated and strained like this! You can't fly yet and I'm grounded, there's no way either of us are gonna start a tornado." Hearing her mention the state of her wing, Tank approached it and gave it a good looking over before carefully opening it up and exhaling a plume of gas from his gas pouch, making wing stiffen greatly as he slammed it back to relocate it. Dash had made to struggle, but his hold was greater than expected of a chick who hadn't even begun to fly, and found that she didn't feel any serious pain. "What the?"

Tank clucked again, getting her attention and gesturing for her to create a tornado while her wing didn't hurt. She groaned concernedly, flapping her wings experimentally before taking to the skies and diving back down with a few clouds set around Tank as an anchor with what little magic she needed to use to keep clouds in place. Without another word, she started flying a small ring around the carcasses-minus one of Tank's deceased siblings which he ate with gusto-creating a small tornado that started pulling the deceased family into its being. Removing herself from the tornado, Dash sent it up towards the mountain top where it began to disperse, leaving the remains of Tank's family to rest in a place where decay wouldn't dare touch them.

"Is that what you wanted, Tank?" Dash asked hopefully, wanting to keep her new charge happy with her so he didn't run away from her. He clucked in confirmation, a sad look in his eyes as he bowed in farewell to his former home. His caretaker brought him into an apologetic hug, "I'm sorry that this happened, but I promise you I'm going to make things right and take care of you from now on. Okay?" Tank nodded, a sad look in his eyes at how his life had changed in a single night. "Okay, let's start trekking down the mountain. I can feel the pain coming back, so I won't be able to fly for a while. Until I can, we're trudging. You ready?" He nodded, his eyes hardening as he steeled his resolve. Dash smiled kindly, nuzzling him compassionately. "Then let's go." And so, the duo began their trek down the Summit of the Gods.

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! So, I gave Rainbow Dash an introduction and gave her her own dark past. As much as I enjoy canon and I like the contrast between Tank and Rainbow, I don't think Tank's participation in the plot or his contribution to Rainbow's character was more than a simple "Hey, the speedster has a slow pet. This contrast is awesome!" I love contrasting characters balancing each other out, but that's neither realistic nor a good way to create a character, temporary or not.

If I were to make a character that's made to be as different from Twilight, it wouldn't be interesting 'cause they'd be a total opposite and thus devoid of any real depth besides: "Hi, I'm your opposite. We're awesome together, now!" That's neither how real life works or how characters are. Notice some of the best duos: Batman/Robin, Shrek/Donkey, Riggs/Murtauch. Ya know what all of these duos have in common? There's a commonality between the individuals that allows them to develop a relationship. Shrek and Donkey are outcasts, unwanted and unappreciated for who they are instead of what they are. Riggs and Murtauch are good men trying to catch crooks and move past their traumas. Batman and Robin are achieving justice where the justice system fails to make sure the criminals that robbed them of their happy ending(s) get locked up.

Anyone else detect a reoccurring trend? Ya should, 'cause that's how all creatures work: we congregate where there are more similar to us and bond with them over the similarities before developing a relationship over the differences. That whole "opposites attract" thing has a truth to it, as people who like different things tend to get along pretty well as friends but if you try to mesh them into a relationship farther than that, they start to fall apart as both friends and people. Now, Rainbow's not bein' set up for a romance with Tank as far as I'm concerned, but the similarities and differences have made them something akin to "fast-acquaintances".

Rainbow's alone, hurt and emotionally damaged. So is Tank. She's young and full of life but life's been turned upside down in a single day. So is Tank. They're also both young, although there's a fair age difference between , that doesn't mean that people who like the same things get along wonderfully. If we all liked the same thing, the world'd suck and we'd have all committed mass suicide. However, people who like similar things and share interests do get along pretty well but they get along better after growing beyond "we're similar".

Here're the differences: Rainbow's a pegasus pony, killed Tank's family to survive, is a young adult and proud enough to stick to her word. Tank's a cockatrice chick, has eaten the remains of his dead father as well as a deceased sibling, is probably only a few years old, and is still developing mentally as well as physically. Their diets are different, they're ability to communicate is one-sided, different sexes and above all, they're reason for guilt is different. Tank left his family, as a child that's traumatic enough whether or not they're dead, and Rainbow's the reason he left his family!

Onto a different topic 'cause I'm gettin' too into this one. Twilight and Cauldron's date was...passable. Romance is something I enjoy, but I'm not great at writing it 'cause my experience with romance has been in stories where the circumstances of the world are less than preferable for a young couple to get by in. Whether it's work, war, politics or race, my exposure to romance hasn't been very substantial compared to many authors.

The sexual overtones/undertones-I dunno which at the moment-were my fuckin' around with two sexually mature creatures going out on a date with someone they find attractive while having something hanging over them. Twilight's got her whole life ahead of her and already "has" a kid, so she's not gettin' knocked up anytime soon. Cauldron's afraid to make a decision that might disappoint either his family or himself and he doesn't feel confident enough in himself or their budding relationship to take that step. Also, Shining Armor's menacing behavior acts as serious cock block material.

When I had Twilight and Cauldron going out on the date, I'd hoped that I caught the casualness that lots of first dates have in several relationships I've encountered. So far, I think I caught it but didn't do so as much as I'd like to. There could've been more dialogue, more character development and a fair more number of toppings added to a dandelion burger and fries-but eh, live and learn I guess.

Not much else 'sides answer a review. Cadence is the Princess of Love, alicorn or nah, she's still a being of love which isn't specified in the show enough for me to not take it in the direction I did. 'Sides that, nothing much to say so (As always: Thanks for bein' here, R&R, no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!) What the fuck's with you, Pinkie?

Pinkie: *Shrugs* Iunno


	9. Run, Dash, Run!

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! I think I'll continue following Dash's plot line for a chapter or two and see how I feel about it. Now, this chapter's kinda...weird. As I wrote it, I'd no idea where I'm goin' other than forward an' I wanted to come up with somethin' original, entertain' an' kinda fast-paced which I'm not exactly skilled at capturing. If this chapter's jarring as fuckin' Hell, that's my fault an' I'm sorry, but if it's tolerably quick then I'm glad I could make it that way.

Pinkie: RAINBOW DASH IS THE CENTER OF ATTENTION!

Yes, Pinkie, she is.

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Opening her eyes on a new day after several days of trekking down the side of the Summit of the Gods, almost reaching the second tallest mountain in the range, Rainbow Dash looked over the environment with a critical eye. Her wing had been healing rather nicely though she still couldn't fly and she'd been running on what little fat reserves she had to find food and shelter. Tank was at her side, still unable to fly and looking skinnier than he had the day they'd met, looking over the landscape for food or anything that would help them survive. His stomach rumbled, alerting a sad looking his caretaker to their ever present state of hunger.

"My tank's empty, Tank." Rainbow said apologetically, looking into the eyes of her chick as she'd come to think of him. "I can't feed you anything in my empty stomach and I don't see any-THERE!" She called out the last word, opening her wings as Tank got on her back to swiftly and quietly glide down to a small patch of greenery. The patch was a bush of berries, blueberries to be exact, spelling salvation for the pair since berries attracted birds and they could both be fed by this bush. "Haha, praise Celestia, we've struck gold! All we have to do is wait here, eating what we can, while we wait for some birds to feed you, Tank!" She got so excited she picked up her chick and carefully tossed him into the air, accidentally removing the boots on her forelegs that made it look like she had cleft hooves. Catching the chick with her three-toed paws, she nuzzled his beak compassionately before her stomach growled.

Tank clucked, being put down as a result before he started pushing his guardian towards the bush to eat. She looked at him appreciatively, eating the berries happily while they waited for animals to arrive for Tank to eat. After she'd painted her already blue face bluer with the berry juices, Rainbow looked to a patiently waiting Tank with a grateful smile before digging at the ground. Sinking her toes into the snow, she began digging deeper until she hit soil and began to open up the spot she'd exposed, before sinking her toes into the soil and opening up a small hole where worms were crawling. Taking a pawful of both worms and berries as well as berry seeds, Rainbow found a place in the shade of a small tree and laid the seemingly random items out over the hard dirt. "Okay, Tank, dig in while I look for something else to eat." Rainbow said knowingly, having fed worms to birds before and knowing that even birds of prey would eat them given the chance.

Also, worms made great bait. That knowledge proved useful as a sparrow landed a few yards away from her, getting her to smile as she lowered herself to the ground behind her set up and feigned sleep. Falling for the trap, the sparrow approached and began to eat the items set before it only for a three-toed paw to slam down on it, killing it quickly and painlessly, mercifully. Over the past few days Rainbow had been taking care of Tank, she'd come to understand what she was capable of and that she needed to do things she didn't like for any she cared for.

Hiding her catch under her healing wing, she waited for anymore birds or other such animals to catch. Today was apparently her lucky day or her stars were aligned or something, because a troop of rather large Breezies landed right in front of her, clearly lost and hungry, giving her the chance to hop above them and crush them underneath her furled, healing wing. A look of pride at her catch crossed her face, the past few days having hardened her enough to kill for her chick's survival.

"Guess what I've got, Tank?" Rainbow asked excitedly with her catch in her paws, getting the cockatrice chick to lift his head out of the dirt with a small mouthful of worms, curiously. At the sight of her catch, he swallowed his mouthful and came to her side, excited at the prospect of eating some actual food instead of Rainbow's vomitus or the worms in this green spot. Approaching her, he made to take them out of her paws before she pushed him back with the joint of her wing in order to deny him his meal. "Hey, what do we say?"

Tank gave her a look before trilling softly, being given the smallest Breezy to start off before moving onto the larger ones until giving him the biggest catch she'd gotten: the sparrow. Without a second thought, he took it and tore into it, his beak piercing its insides only to pull back with strings of flesh in his jaws. Rainbow sighed, contented to rest for the time being as Tank filled his little belly. _Maybe we should stay here for a while. There's food, I can probably set up a nice, cozy nest for us and if we're ever thirsty, we can just eat the snow! Maybe...maybe this can be home for a while._ She thought this to herself, head propped on her paws like she were a big cat or something before she found a hard something falling on top of her head. Rubbing her head and looking at the object, she found it to be a broken, curved, coiled horn of a white unicorn. "What the?"

"Damn it, Shimmer," A stallion's voice declared from a few yards above their rest stop, getting Rainbow to tense nervously as she brought Tank close to her underneath the shade of the tree. "That _hurt!_ "

"Duh," A mare responded, her name apparently being Shimmer. "My m-I mean, Princess Celestia told you to teach me self-defense, and since self-defense is a martial art I have to do some form of damage to get better." Her words made her stallion companion snort irritably.

"Yeah, I know, but you broke my _horn!_ I don't know about you, but a broken horn isn't something I have fond memories of. My drill sergeant broke off all of the horns in my barracks in order to 'better prepare' us for situations where magic wasn't available." He said this with a terrified tone in his voice, no doubt having flashbacks to his days in boot camp.

Rainbow glared up towards their area, unable to see them but not trusting their presence with Tank being a cockatrice chick and one of the mystery ponies being a member of the military. "Tank," She whispered into his ear, paw over his beak. "Don't make a sound, or we might be in trouble." Receiving an understanding nod from the chick, Rainbow sighed in relief. "Glad we're on the same page. Now, I'm going to figure out a way to get us somewhere safer without getting noticed. We don't want somepony taking you away." Rainbow grabbed the horn and kept it behind her ear in case she needed it for something, anything being possible acting as a contribution to her reasoning as well as old superstitions.

Tank once more nodded, getting his guardian to remove her paw as she stalked off, her falcon-like tail folded to keep her body as small as possible. Stepping lightly along a natural pathway leading downwards, Rainbow quietly stalked her way towards what was hopefully safety. Coming to a small cave along the way, she cautiously investigated the natural formation to find that it was less of a cave and more of a medium-depth indent in the mountainside where bats made their home. Rainbow chuckled, "I wish I were more like you guys, right now." The broken horn suddenly became warm, emitting a light that started out as a simple glow before becoming an all out shine that blinded not only Rainbow but also the bats. "WHAT THE FUCK?!" She called out, confusion and fear enveloping her alongside the light.

Her body stung. Everything felt wrong! Feathers on her wings, tail and body felt like they were heavier than houses, falling out of the follicles with the help of gravity. Her teeth were so hard and brittle, shattering while she clenched down on her inevitable scream of pain. Eyes, magenta with oval-shaped pupils, focused and sharpened as she became a creature she'd never known existed. Free of those heavy, restricting feathers that stung and weighed her down like the enormous stingers of a million hornets, her wings began to stretch out and grow a color-coordinated rainbow scheme of thin fur as those once bird-like appendages resembled those of the creatures hanging from the ceiling in the blinding light.

What used to be a falcon-like set of tail feathers was now a set of miniature fins and a reasonable level of flesh around the bones extending from her spine at her tailbone, the fins with which she began to move about experimentally. The scheme of those fins much the same as her wings, lightly furred in the colors and order of the rainbow after a hurricane. Her paws were now four-toed and much more articulated, able to grab rounder items about the same size as her paw as well as hold herself upside down by her claws from the stalactite she was now on.

 _What's..._ She thought silently, giving her body a good once over with her now enhanced vision. _Going on?_ The horn dropped from behind her enlarged ears which folded back in pain from the many bats flying out of their home, away from her and the fact she existed. Rainbow tested out her wings, flipping to stand on her paws as she did, finding that she was all healed up and capable of flying again. Picking up the horn and deciding to hold onto it, she made a decision. "Oh, HELL YEAH!" The new bat-winged pegasus cried out, flying out of the cave with great speed as she returned to find Tank waiting nervously underneath the tree where two ponies were.

Slowing her flight down substantially, she glided onto the tree and carefully hung upside down from a branch above her chick, picking him up quietly after letting him smell her to affirm that it was actually her. "I'd like to say," Shimmer said. "I'm glad we've this time to reconnect and...well..."

Rainbow internally groaned at the sappy turn this day took, _Shut up and kiss, you two! Nopony wants to hear you professing your eternal love for each other!_ She lifted Tank and herself upright onto the tree branch, allowing her a chance to reorient herself before taking off towards the general area Fluttershy had fallen years ago. _I'm coming, Fluttershy. Don't you worry about that!_ Suddenly, she found a weighted net around them, dragging them down to earth with a rapid descent that was broken by a group of unicorns Rainbow didn't like the look of. _Shit!_

"What is it, Professor?" One of them asked excitedly, getting the other one to stroke his beard.

"It appears to be a pegasus," He said thoughtfully. "But with its wings are nothing like that of any natural, purebred pegasus known to science."

 _What the fuck are these two eggheads on about? I'm a purebreed; both of my parents are pegasi. They always have been!_ Rainbow thought irritatedly, struggling against the heavy rope that made up their woven cage.

"It has a cockatrice chick, as well! How peculiar? Maybe this anomaly is carnivorous like Pegafay and was attempting to steal this chick from its nest for later consumption." The stallion said thoughtfully, getting some of the others to swoon.

 _Ah hell!_ She thought, making another decision. "Gas 'em, Tank!" Her ability to speak obviously surprised and excited the eggheads around them before the cockatrice chick released a miasma from his gas pouch, enveloping them in a 'paralysis' made of numbness, both disorienting them and weakening them enough to be immobile. Next, Rainbow charged all of her available magical energy into her clawed hindlegs and used them to destroy the net around them, giving them a chance to escape before the eggheads regained functionality. "Let's go!"

That said, they made a mad dash for the nearest liftoff point, Tank climbing onto Rainbow's back as she opened up her two foot foot-long-each bat-like wings in readiness for takeoff. "After that creature, it's the property of Canterlot's lead scientist!" Came the call of the once again mobile group of unicorns, making Rainbow start flapping her wings fervently to get lift. "NO, STOP IT BEFORE IT ESCAPES!" One of them called out, getting another unicorn to shoot a bolt of magic through her left wing, crippling it once again.

"Oh. COME. _ON!_ " Rainbow declared angrily, failing to take off as she made her way up a side street that lead to what looked like a high school or college. _Perfect! They'd never look for a teenager in school!_ She thought victoriously, smiling brilliantly at her ingenious plan. However, that smile faded into a gape of terror as a section of the posse following them checked the school after losing sight of their target. _WHAT?! NO, THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! NOPONY WOULD_ WILLINGLY _GO TO A SCHOOL!_ Her thought was interrupted by a voice from behind her.

"Rainbow?" Asked a confused purple unicorn mare of twelve years, getting said pegasus to turn her attention to the one who said her name.

"Yes?" She asked, turning around to find she was in the infirmary.

"What are you doing here with that cockatrice on your back?" The unicorn asked flatly, the mare unfamiliar to the bat-winged pegasus but she could work with this. After all, she was the coolest pegasus in flight school and this was no different.

"Hiding!" Rainbow said, waving her hoof like she was being told a joke that was somewhat funny.

"From who?" The mare asked, beginning to read a book on her bed, the question getting Rainbow to start sweating bullets.

"The eggheads chasing me because I'm a-a-a..." Genius struck through her brain like lightning. "A Batpony!" _I can stun her with the awesome name of my made up species, then escape while those eggheads are lost in the library! Brilliant, Rainbow Dash; just brilliant!_

"A what?" The unicorn asked plainly as she looked up from her book with unreadable eyes, getting Rainbow's eyes to shimmer with tears that her plan didn't work.

 _C'mon, Dashie! You can still save this, just play it cool. Just play it cool._ Wiping away her tears of fear and frustration, she answered the question. "I'm a Batpony, we're a rare subspecies of pegasus, although we prefer the name," She quickly looked for a word inside her head or on the covers of the books, misreading the word 'kestrel' as 'thestral'. "'Thestral' instead of 'Batpony' 'cause it makes us sound like we're a bad horror movie monster." Rainbow looked into the eyes of her host, hearing the eggheads trying to catch her getting close, with Tank looking to the unicorn pleadingly with terror at the idea of being caught by the ponies with the net.

"That," The mare began quietly, climbing off of her bed to approach the pair. "Is so," She was right in front of Rainbow now, said 'Thestral' using herself as a barrier between this mare and her chick whilst being sandwiched between the door and the mare, staring into her eyes seriously. " _AWESOME!_ WHY WEREN'T YOU HERE SOONER?! THEY SAID THEY'D SEND SOMEPONY LIKE YOU WITHIN A WEEK, BUT HERE YOU ARE! Wait, why do you call yourselves 'Thestral'?!" She demanded, shaking the pegasus mare so much she turned green and threw up into a trashcan, her back being pat by both the mare and Tank.

As the door opened to reveal some of the eggheads chasing the duo, Rainbow casually said, "I'd have been here sooner if I wasn't caught in a net by a bunch of egghead assholes who don't know that talking about somepony like they're not in the room is rude!" Saying that pointedly, glancing at the doorway as she did, she turned her savior to look at her assailants. "You see, I was on my way here because I heard you needed a pony with my skills to help you with something before _these_ jerk offs launched a net at me and my poor chick-Tank-here, dragging us out of the sky." She said that with an exaggerated sniffle while pointing an accusing claw at her assailants, knowing that she was in way to deep to pull out now or else she'd never finish.

"Is that so?" The mare asked menacingly, turning her gaze from her 'guest' to the assailants in the infirmary doorway. "Well, I did request for help from the Assist Inc., but they said you wouldn't be here for another week." Before Rainbow could defend her swiftness, the mare continued. "But I guess they had been expecting you to be ambushed by ignorant scientists who've never heard of such a rare and amazing species such as the Thestral. I know, I'll file a complaint that they shouldn't hide the Thestral race's existence from the public any longer!" She climbed onto her bed and began writing a letter to Assistance Incorporated, waking up the dragon whelp in the bed beside her in the process. "Oh. Good evening, Spike. Sleep well, bud?"

"Wait-" One of the eggheads began, getting Rainbow and Tank to hiss at them which had the desired result of scaring the fuckers off long enough for the duo to breath a heavy sigh of relief as they slumped against the door, closing it in the process.

"Oh, thank Celestia, you're here to save our hides, Ms. _?" Rainbow said, giving the mare an unknowably grateful smile to her savior.

"Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said, not looking up from the letter she was writing as the whelp named Spike yawned tiredly. "And this little guy is Twilight Spike. What're your names?"

Rainbow nodded to her in greetings, lowering herself to the knee of one foreleg to seem ten percent cooler. "My name is Rainbow Dash, and the cockatrice chick accompanying me is my adopted chick, Rainbow Tank. It's awesome getting to meet you, Ms. Sparkle."

"Just Twilight's fine, Rainbow." Twilight said, finishing up her letter before tickling Spike with a magically inclined feather. He started giggling like the infant he was before releasing a plume of magic, green fire that Twilight put the letter in, sending it to its designated destination through the window. "There, that should save me the trouble of actually ordering any Batpony help or an explanation from Assist Inc." She dusted off her hooves, turning from the window to see a gaping Rainbow Dash. "What?"

"You knew I was lying the entire time?!" Rainbow demanded quietly, shaking Twilight until she was green in the face as well, getting her to throw up into the same trashcan with Rainbow and Spike patting her back supportively.

"Yes," Twilight said, spitting out the last vomitus in her mouth before passing the trashcan over to Tank who began eating it excitedly. "I did. It doesn't take somepony going to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns to realize that you were creating a fictitious story on the fly, if you don't mind the joke. Besides, Batponies are a real subspecies of pegasus and with how profusely you're sweating, not to mention looking everywhere but my eyes, it wasn't hard to tell you're recently transformed Batpony-Oh, I'm sorry-'Thestral' who doesn't know diddily about what's going on."

All Rainbow Dash could do was stare in awe at this unicorn mare who'd just pointed out ways to tell she was lying, followed by Rainbow giving Twilight a round of applause as well as several praising bows of worship. "You're amazing." Rainbow said endearingly, getting Twilight to blush awkwardly before noticing the broken horn in her paw.

Taking a closer look after carefully prying Rainbow's paw open, she asked, "Where'd you get this?"

"Tank and I were low on food so we took a pit stop at this small copse on the second tallest mountain in this range, where this," Rainbow gestured to the broken horn. "Fell on my head and alerted me to somepony named Shimmer fighting a stallion, breaking off his horn in the process. I kept it because my dad told me an old superstition that if a broken horn is in your possession, it'll grant you a wish. At the time, the plan was to at least keep it as a good luck charm around my neck once I got it to a jeweler or something, since I'm too old for superstitions but...I guess this one was true. I'd been in a cave where I said that I wished I were more like the bats there and I became a Thestral. Oh, that sounds so cool!" She said the last part excitedly before yawning and flipping onto one of the rafters where she wrapped herself up in her wings, soft snores being the only thing audible from her afterwards.

"Okay then." Twilight said simply, turning to find Tank and Spike were playing like the young ones they were, smiling at their innocent antics. She returned to her book, 'The Magic of Kestrels', with unspoken excitement. A knock at the door got Twilight to absentmindedly open it with magic, revealing Rarity with a carry-on box from Cashgrab's Diner, getting Twilight to shut her book swiftly and take the box as she licked her lips. "Thank you for the food, Rarity!"

"You're very welcome, darling, but you really should work on your manners. Also," Rarity said, her eyes gliding to the upside down pegasus-like equine. "What's this?" She looked to her best friend, finding said protege of Celestia to be half-finished with her dandelion burger, condiments smeared over her mouth disgustingly. Grabbing a paper towel from the roll on the wall, she wiped Twilight's face like she were a newborn, receiving minor protests from the young mare. "Honestly, darling, if I weren't around you wouldn't be nearly enough of a lady to get by in this city!" Her words got Twilight to groan, resigning herself to the torment of being babied by her best friend.

"I don't need to be a lady to be Celestia's student, Rarity. All I need to be is myself, studying hard and remaining in peak condition!" Twilight said proudly and finding, much to her relief, the paper towel was being removed from her face. "Besides, what does being a lady have to do with being successful? In my studies, I've found no evidence that acting like a snobbish worrywart who doesn't know how to do anything herself, will improve my life." Her words made Rarity tut her with a shake of the head, looking at her with a pitying gaze.

"Darling," Rarity began sagely. "To be a lady's to be a mare. If you want to win the hearts of the citizens, you have to make them stop and stare! Should you ever find that the stallions are going to brawl, you needn't do anything but stall. Just act a little flustered, perhaps wear makeup that would shame a ghost buster, and ask them to dote on you so they might fulfill your every whim!" Her singsong tune was mirrored by her smile, trying to teach her little sister-figure what it meant to be a lady. "When there are foals misbehaving and your heart feels like its on the oceans, desperately waving, then you should call for help with a frightened yelp! My dear, I've told you before how much I care for you, but there's only so much teachable for me to. This is your assignment," Saying this somewhat urgently, she looked Twilight dead in the eye. "Woo your stallion whose heart is trapped within confinement!"

Twilight stared at her, letting everything she'd said in the past two minutes sink in with a confused look on her face. "What?" Was all she could say, getting Rarity to look at her in shock with melodramatic tears shimmering in her eyes, the white unicorn falling back onto a soft couch that appeared out of nowhere with a hoof over her forehead in exaggeration. "Where'd that couch come from?" Asked Twilight, her ears folded back as she looked to and fro for an entry point for the piece of furniture her best friend now laid after fainting in an over-dramatic fashion. Coming up to her side, Twilight cautiously poked Rarity's face, receiving no response before she went the extra mile and raspberried her sister-figure's belly to the laughter-followed-by-embarrassment of the Ponyville mare.

"Why did you do that?!" Rarity asked in astonishment, blushing like a little filly. "That was uncalled for!"

"You're acting weird, so I decided to make you act normal by acting weirder; simple as that." Came Twilight's answer, returning to eat her meal slowly instead so as to not make a mess and suffer being babied.

"But you didn't have to do that! You could've just asked me to act normal, darling."

She got a clueless look from her neurotic friend, "Where's the fun in that?" Twilight returned to eating her meal, leaving Rarity to gape in shock at her words before a shifting of wings revealed the hanging thing to be a young mare.

"Twilight, darling," Rarity began softly, her eyes never leaving the rainbow-maned and rainbow-winged creature, receiving an a hum of acknowledgement. "Whose this, here?" _Where have_ _I seen this mare before?_ She thought to herself, eyes staring curiously at the short rainbow locks hanging from her head.

"Her name's Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, her eyes never leaving her book. "She's adopted the cockatrice chick playing with Spike and has become a Batpony, or 'Thestral', as she calls herself because of this." She pulled out the broken horn, showing it to her guest. "It's Shining's horn. I know because he makes sure to always have a spell ready, and if it were to be broken off and then near a wishing pony..."

"The horn would release all of the pent magic, granting the pony's wish." Rarity finished, understanding the science behind unicorn horns and how they worked enough to know that the old breezy tales they're told as foals were based in fact. "She wished to become a, what did you say she calls herself? A 'Thestral'?" A nod from Twilight answered her, getting her to look at the mare closer curiously. _Have we met before, Rainbow Dash?_ She asked herself, leaning in close enough to swat at the longer locks of hair that hung from her scalp. _Such a pretty mane, too. I'd never be able to forget a mane like this._

"Rarity," Twilight sighed in a semi-singsong voice, waking said Crystal Pony from her thoughts. "Staring is rude to do, which you should know since you're more of a lady than me. So I'd suggest you wait until she's woken up from her nap and talk to her afterwards, otherwise you might end up having wet dreams about her and that's a mess I don't either of us want to explain to anypony." Her words, although quiet and flat toned, were said with a playful, teasing smile as Rarity blushed at her friend's insinuation that she was attracted to this strange creature before her.

"I wasn't staring, darling! I was admiring her colors and trying to come up with a fashion design that would compliment it better than any other product. So, Twilight, darling, please check your privilege." Rarity said the last part with a turn of her muzzle to the ceiling, the infirmary occupant looking up from her book confusedly.

"'Check my privilege'? What does that mean?" She asked bluntly, getting Rarity to smile at the change in subject.

"You know you have privileges, one of which is to have your own theories, thoughts and beliefs; but should they interfere with the privileges of others or their situation, you should check yourself and put your privileges aside to take the big picture into account." Rarity said knowingly, her understanding of the current lingo obviously being greater than Twilight's.

"Interesting." Twilight said plainly, reading her book happily, silently. Rarity could only stare in shock at her friend's disinterested tone of voice before the two youngsters rolled to a stop at her hooves, wrestling energetically for dominance.

 _Ah, they're so cute._ She thought, looking to the clock to find it was two o'clock, the perfect time to take a power nap. Quietly moving her fainting couch in front of Twilight's bed, she laid down and looked to see that the way the curtains in the open windows flapped in the wind made it look like Twilight had wings. _Heh, Twilight would make an interesting alicorn princess..._

 **An hour later**

Waking up with a yawn, Rarity found herself face to face with an upside down, blue batpony's magenta, oval-shape-pupiled eyes. Her response time was slow as she was still waking up, but she yelped in surprise after a moment of staring into those big, beautiful eyes above hers. A sharp-toothed grin answered her yelp, "Heh, good evening, Rarity." Said the grinning Thestral, the word sounding intriguing, cool and appropriate for the pegasus above her. Flipping down onto the floor, Rainbow stood in front of Rarity to show that she was only taller than her by about a foot, if that. Tank climbed onto her back, looking at the white unicorn curiously, his eyes bewitching her for a moment before he blinked and the spell was broken.

Shaking off her surprise, Rarity asked, "How do you know my name?" Opting to answer through action rather than words, Rainbow gestured with her wing to a sleeping Twilight Sparkle and Twilight Spike on the infirmary bed. "Oh, I see. Why do you have that cockatrice chick on your back?"

"His name is Tank," Rainbow said pointedly, slightly narrowing her eyes in a warning to the unicorn to watch her step with her words. "And I made a promise to take care of him in his family's...'absence'." She looked to the chick and nuzzled him, getting him to return the gesture familiarly. "It's only been a week, but it feels like we've been together for years with everything we've been through together." A bat-like purr escaped the pegasus as she brought the chick off of her back to sit in front of her, wrapping her wing around him to begin preening his feathers. The chick released a soft chickadee noise of pleasure at the feeling of his dirty feathers being cleaned and that his guardian was taking good care of him.

"What all have you been through, darling?" Rarity asked curiously, getting Rainbow to lifted head and carefully comb through Tank's feathers with her clawed paws.

"Well...Lots and lots of trudging is a good place to start, and then...hm." She trailed off, combing her chick's feathers absentmindedly.

 **Flashback**

Clamping her feathered wings shut in front of them, Rainbow dug a space in the snow for them to lay down for the night, the moon hidden by the blizzard. Tank, catching onto his guardian's plan, began digging alongside her to speed things up. Suddenly, the wind kicked up and pushed her wounded wing back forcefully, getting her to grunt in exertion of energy she was struggling to maintain. After a few more moments, they'd finished digging out their little next of cold dirt and grass, getting Tank to nestle in with Rainbow covering him with her body while simultaneously keeping her tired wings bent in front of them both to somewhat shield them from the frigid winds.

It would be several hours before Tank fell asleep, and several more before Rainbow did as well. Winds beating down against her tired, feathered wings, she could feel the snow beginning to quickly build up in front of them as a result. She smirked proudly, having thought ahead enough to have come up with this plan. _I just need to wait a little while longer, and a wall of snow will be made! Then, I can wrap my wings around Tank, and keep him warm...Yeah._ Her plan proved to work, the snow building up into a pile in front of them, the cold flakes of powdered ice freezing her feathers together. But that didn't matter, nothing mattered more than keeping Tank safe.

Said chick was cuddling close to his guardian, afraid of losing her like he had his family and trying to keep warm due to his feathers still not being as packed as Rainbow's were yet. Rainbow, of course, noticed how he was pressing into her fearfully, getting her to lower her wings and head to act as a dome-like barrier around the chick. "It's okay, Tank," Rainbow whispered, her breath visible to both of them. "I'm not going anywhere! Just stick with me...and everything will be fine." Outside their little recluse, the winds beat down on everything around them ferociously as if it were trying to snuff out whatever sparks of life existed on this desolate mountainside.

Without warning, the wind changed directions, getting Rainbow to shiver in surprise as she shifted her wings to block as much snow into a wall behind them. A wall formed there as well with some of it piling up at their sides, forming an igloo of sorts as the snow rounded out above them as an unfinished dome that had a hole at the top to allow air in for them to breath. _Oh, thank Celestia, we'll make it through the night..._ She thought in relief, noticing that Tank had fallen asleep and that she too was starting to feel drowsy as well, the cold air taking its toll on her ability to maintain consciousness.

 **Flashback end**

"Blizzards are a bitch but they bring creatures together afterwards," Rainbow said nostalgically. "That's for sure." She began preening her chick once more, clearly not wanting to go into anymore details for the moment, which suited Rarity just fine as she wanted to admire the appearance of the pony before her more than hear her talk. Circling the Thestral, Rarity observed her rainbow tail fin and the thin, wool-like fur over it and her wings which she felt entitled to stroke had the owner of those wings not been preening Tank at the moment.

Her blue fur was short yet well-kept, near ludicrous amounts of preening being an obvious part of her routine after waking up. Mane, also short and well-kept, was styled to give her a punk, feral vibe to her appearance which suited her quite nicely with her status as a Batpony becoming a part of her life. Ears tufted at the ends, they were larger than the average pony's ears and more akin to those of any species from the Chiroptera order. The way her ears twitched, turning every which way at random was cute and kind of reminded Rarity of little woodland creatures when on the lookout for danger.

The Thestral under observation could feel eyes on her and heard each step of Rarity's cleft hooves against the floor boards. _I'm no longer jealous of those cool hooves, anymore. After all, I've got these sick ass claws!_ She thought to herself, admiring her handiwork after she finished preening her chick. "All done, go get ready for a nap." She said this fondly, nudging the chick along to climb up the wall and onto one of the rafters where he curled up in preparation for sleep. Rainbow turned a knowing eye to Rarity, waggling her eyebrows with a wink. "See something you like, horny girl?" Without giving Rarity a chance to respond, she fluttered up into the rafters where she hung herself upside down by her legs and brought Tank up against her chest with her wings, both of which she used to wrap the two of them into a bundle of cuddles.

All Rarity could do was gape with a blush at the strange pony's accusation of eyeing up said Thestral. _Why you, you...I...I really need to come up with a phrase that works as an insult for somepony like you._ She thought, dumbfounded that she was at a loss for what to call somepony. Normally, if a pegasus was causing her trouble, she'd call the individual a horsefly and be done with it, but here she didn't know what to call the batpony. _What sounds offensive when talking about bats?...White nose! White nose syndrome's killed thousands of bats, so if she ever becomes a pain in the ass I can call her a White Nose or say she's 'white nosing'. That'll do for now, but I should come up with more later so I'm not so limited..._

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! This chapter's weird pace's because I had disorganized ideas conjoin to create this masterpiece. Instead of overly dark or emotional, I wanted to highlight Rainbow's personality the only way possible. We love RD 'cause she's energetic, cool, fast and, most importantly, loyal. Lots of people depict her as stupid, slow or overly hardcore which isn't who she is at all. She's a zealous fighter, loyal comrade and an improviser. Now, that doesn't mean she's always good at improvising. Just look at how she thought that because she didn't like school that nopony does.

Rainbow's turning into a batpony was something I hadn't come up with until fairly recently, where I started thinking about how far Rainbow'd go to protect her chick and what she'd think would help. Being on a tall and snow-capped mountain, there's not a lot of greenery or prey for either of them, so the appearance of a small green area was like manna from heaven. Rainbow still doesn't like killing, she's just repressing the thoughts involving that part of her life right now, and she'll keep doing it until Tank can take care of himself. And even then, she'll probably provide for him a while after he's learned to provide food for himself, because she's adopted him as her chick.

Batpony-hood is something I'd planned for Fluttershy and Gilda to deal with, but I realized that that's too close to canon for my taste and I made Fluttershy a crossbreed, meaning I don't wanna make her even more 'alien' than she already is to the residents of Ponyville. With Rainbow as a batpony, I can take several liberties and give her a more feral edge that compliments her new lifestyle of raising a predatory avian. Breezies are, in Earthsong's headcanon, carnivorous despite the fact they're small and equine in nature. Their size compared to the rest of the world'd make it easy for them to get lost and eaten by bigger creatures, Rainbow was just being merciful compared to what the frigid temperatures would do to them.

Survival isn't easy for animals, especially in extreme climates, but Tank and Rainbow made it. Now, the wishing-with-Shining's-horn thing was actually based on a previous idea I'd juggled around in my head of Rainbow becoming a feral mad-pony who'd started eating the flesh of other ponies. At first, I thought the idea couldn't be beat! I'd have Lightning Dust fill in as the weather pony in Ponyville, Rainbow and Tank would end up living in the ruins in the Everfree and-I ran into a wall. If Rainbow went rogue and ate other ponies, becoming a carnivorous batpony overtime, then she'd have to be killed and even if she wasn't, she'd never be able to readjust to society before returning to the wilderness with Tank in tow where he'd end up eating her after she got fatally wounded.

As much as I loved, _loved_ the idea of having a 'circle of life'-scenario surface in my story, I didn't want Rainbow to be a certain-number-of-chapters kinda character who made up that scenario's circumstances. So, I came up with this compromise: instead of having killed several guards (Wouldn't make sense) and wearing their horns, armor and blood like a trophy (Wouldn't be able to wear any of that properly without getting screwed over later), I decided that she'd get Shining's horn by chance instead of ripping it out of his skull. This would give her a chance to develop more as a character among ponies, potentially realizing her dreams and giving her a chance to become more than she's been in both canon and other fanfics.

Her personality really shined in this chapter, at least I think so, and I'm glad I got to show her off for who she was rather than just what she was. With her impulsiveness and quick thinking, she saved Tank and her own life which is something not many ponies can say in Canterlot, and her acting-although crude-was passable enough to fool the eggheads chasing her.

Tank's preening was something I'd been thinking on a bit. What purpose does it serve besides keeping him clean? Is it apart of a routine they have, or do they preen each other whenever the fuck they want? Rainbow's his guardian now, and since ponies are a sentient, civilized species that understands the importance of cleanliness and schedule, she'd impart that knowledge onto him by setting up a routine where he gets ready for a nap after a preening after a long, hard day. This day certainly counts!

Batponies are, as Twilight said, being kept a secret by Assist Inc. which explains why Rainbow thought she's the only one in existence. At first, finding out you're not special's a serious shock to the system, but then you'd realize that you're special 'cause you make the group you're in better. There're some other things going on in my head, but they're for the next chapter. So, (As always:R&R, thanks for bein' here, no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)

Pinkie: *With an enormous megaphone* RAINBOW GOT A CHAPTER DEDICATED TO HER BEING AWESOME!

OUCH!


	10. Fluttershy, Gilda High, Shoots Scoots

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! I've shown the Mane 6's intros, but let's head back to Ponyville for a while to see how the forbidden lovers are doing with their newborn. Pinkie, have you anything to say about what happens next?

Pinkie: *Drinking a bottle of Chartreuse, she cries* I didn't ask for my mom's mom to be an alchemist! I didn't ask to hear you people's chatter! I didn't ask for my sister to try to bring back my alcoholic father's deceased mom so he'd stop beating me! I didn't ask to kill that babbie-thing! But it all happened...WHY DOES EVERYTHING GO WRONG?! *She breaks down into sobs between drinking directly from the bottle*

*Groans* Spoilers, Pinkie!

Pinkie: *Hiccups* Sorry...

(*sighs* I'll explain what each type of text means. Warning, this chapter's... _weird_ )

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal Speech"

" **Abnormal Speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Fluttershy, humming quietly to herself with the biggest smile ever known on her face, was hugging the egg she'd birthed a week earlier. She'd been like that ever since, holding her egg to her chest with a contented look on her face that only Gilda had ever seen beforehand. Her wife was cuddling her, the both of them sleeping in their nest in the upstairs bedroom, a peaceful expression on her sleeping face. "Lullaby, and goodnight, in the skies stars are bright. May the moon, silvery beams, bring you with dreams. Close your eyes, now and rest, may these hours be blessed. Till the sky's bright with dawn, when you wake with a yawn. Lullaby, and goodnight, you are mother's delight. I'll protect you from bad things, and you'll wake under and in my wings."

Gilda, awake with closed eyes, picked up after her secret wife whose voice sounded so soft and gentle it was indecipherable from that of a cherub. "Sleepyhead, close your eyes, for I'm right beside you. Your mothers are here, so sleep without fear. Lullaby, and goodnight, with roses delight. Lilies o'er head, lay thee down in thy bed. Lullaby, and goodnight, you are mother's delight. I'll protect you from harm, and you'll wake in my arms. Lullaby, and sleep tight, my darling sleeping." Gilda's normally punk attitude was nonexistent in the privacy of their home, her brash voice sounding sweet in moments like these.

"On sheets white as cream," Fluttershy continued, nuzzling the egg she'd laid in some odd twist of fate as Gilda did the same. "With the head full of dreams. Sleepyhead, close your eyes, I'm right beside you. Lay thee down now and rest, may you slumber the best." She yawned at that, extending her large wing over Gilda who cuddled closer to her favorite mare and beloved child-to-be.

Together, they sang the last portion of the lullaby. "Go to sleep, little one, think of puppies and kittens. Go to sleep, little one, think of butterflies in spring. Go to sleep, little one, think of sunny bright mornings. Hush, darling one, sleep through the night. Sleep through the night. Sleep through the night..." And, like that, the family was laid to rest as the moon hung low in the night sky. Their dreams, unknown to the world around them, were peaceful and fulfilling of their greatest desires.

However, their bliss was to be disrupted by a rather loud knock at the door, getting the forbidden couple to glare at the door to their bedroom as if it would deter the fool who was stupid enough to wake them up after just falling asleep. Another knock came from the front door, getting Gilda to quietly snarl as she made her way downstairs to scare off whoever had the balls to wake them up. Fluttershy, irritated that her sleep had been disturbed, attempted to fall back asleep when the muffled sounds of an angry Gilda reached her ears. _What's going on, I wonder?_

She hesitantly removed herself from her egg, keeping it safe in a cradle they'd made specifically for it and the creature that hatched from it, before making her way down the stairs to find a sopping wet Mayor Mare standing in the doorway. Sniffling and shuddering alerted the crossbred pegasus to the sorry state Ponyville's mayor was in, as if that made Fluttershy's opinion of her any better. "I told you, Mare, Fluttershy's grieving over the child ponies like _you_ pushed Pinkie to kill! So, unless you're here to turn back time, make a law so she might have her foal in piece, and prevent Pinkie from mercy-killing it-"

"Gilda..." Fluttershy muttered, barely audible yet all too loud for the two arguing, getting a shocked looking Mare and Gilda to see that the mother-'no-longer' had heard them.

"Ms. Shy, I-" Mare began, getting Fluttershy to bow her head with tears in her eyes and a paw up in silence, Gilda holding Mare's mouth closed right after.

Inhaling and exhaling deeply, trying to calm herself down, Fluttershy spoke. "I don't care what you have to say, Mare," Her voice was laced with more poison than an assassin's dagger, eyes ablaze with a mother's fury that cowed Mare from attempting to speak. "It's ponies like you that took my baby from me, and I won't stand for it anymore! If you're here to mock me, than you'd best get it over with or leave, because either way...one of us will be leaving here broken; one way or another!"

Mare was speechless, scared and freezing in the thunderstorm outside the cottage. It had been a little over a week and the hamlet they all called home was still shaken to its core by Pinkie's proclamation that she was resigning herself as a teacher after ending the life of Fluttershy's child. The winged mare had made her way to the living room, within sight of the doorway, where she could be seen sniffling and shuddering in front of an empty, rocking cradle she'd hoped to rest her baby in one day. However, it was obvious that that wasn't to be. "Ms. Shy...I'm sorry. I promise-"

"Leave." Fluttershy said plainly, not even looking at the mayor.

"What?" Mare asked, shocked at the coldness in the normally gentle-spirited crossbreed's voice.

Fluttershy turned, taking her time to approach Mare with the eyes of a wounded mother and a disgusted pony, getting Gilda to move out of her roommate's way. "I said _leave!_ I don't want your Celestia damned apology or your empty promises. Because of you, and this hamlet, I lost my baby and I will _never get him back!_ I wanted to raise him like any other foal, take him to school, teach him how to fly and how to be a part of society but..." She choked up at that, looking away from Mare after getting into her face, her tears hitting the floorboards as rain fell down Mare's cheeks, ruining what makeup she wore alongside her hidden tears. "Just go! Don't come back! Tell everypony that their words don't mean anything anymore and that if they really want to come for me than they should be ready for a fight, because I've nothing." Slamming a paw down on Mare's knee, the sound of a sickening snap resounded as the mayor fell to the ground where Fluttershy's height made her seem even more menacing than her large wings did. "Left." One swift kick went into Mare's midsection, knocking the wind out of her and sending her flying out into the rain where Fluttershy followed with a punch to the face. " _To LOSE!_ "

The mother-no-longer left the mayor there, alone, cold, sick, wounded and in the rain with a stone heart shattered at the knowledge that a 'filthy half-breed' was as much a pony as she was. _I've made a terrible, terrible mistake!_ Coughing, Mare got up and called out at the top of her lungs, "I GIVE YOU MY WORD AS MAYOR OF PONYVILLE THAT NEITHER YOU NOR YOUR FUTURE CHILDREN SHALL SUFFER LIKE YOU HAVE, ANYMORE! I _SWEAR_ THIS TO YOU!" With that said, she slowly limped back to town to make good on her solemn vow.

Inside the cottage, behind its door, Fluttershy was whimpering with sobs racking her body which got Gilda to hug the damaged mare to her plumed chest. "Everything will be okay, Flutters." She said, stroking her wife's mane compassionately, getting Fluttershy to nod through her sobs of sorrow at the loss of several innocent animals' lives. They staid like that for several minutes, waiting for Fluttershy's tears to subside before they merely enjoyed each other's sweet embrace. "Scootaloo's probably getting cold, Flutters." Hearing that, Fluttershy flew up the stairs so fast she'd have made their friend Rainbow Dash jealous, taking the ostrich-egg-sized egg gently against her chest and cuddling it with a relieved expression on her face.

"I'm never letting anything hurt you, Scootaloo. That's a promise..." Without another word, she was fast asleep, a light hum being the only indication that she snored in her sleep. Gilda, coming up to the bedroom slowly so as to not disturb the sleeping Fluttershy, chuckled softly at her wife's behavior.

A look of contentment graced the griffon's face as she came to lay beside her lover, extending her wing over the egg and Fluttershy as best as she could with her two meter long-in-diameter wingspan. Sleep came slowly as she focused on the heartbeat of her wife and herself, listening to each breath they took until they'd become synced, allowing her to feel more peaceful the moment her eyelids felt as heavy as bricks that struggled to remain open. Finally, after an amount of time that she didn't know, Gilda's consciousness faded and subsided for sleep to hold her in its warm embrace.

 **The next day**

Fluttershy, slowly rousing from the peace of REM sleep, yawned as she heard the rumble of Gilda's vocal cords in the approximation of a purr for the large avian-feline. She nuzzled her, pecking her on the brow as she cuddled her, not wanting that moment to end. _I wonder when my Scootaloo will hatch? Note to self: ask Pinkie why I laid an egg. End note._ A yawn from Gilda alerted her to the griffon's awakening, getting her to smile at her wife as she gave her a 'drink' even more powerful than coffee by kissing her so deeply it seemed like she was trying to rob her of her very lungs. Gilda, for her part, although enjoying the method of waking up, was running out of air until she pulled away with a gasp from both herself and Fluttershy. "Morning, love!" Fluttershy said with a cheesy grin on her face that Gilda couldn't stop herself from mimicking.

"Morning..." Gilda responded, a slight groan of pain leaving her as she furled her wings after having them stretched out all night. "What've we got planned for today?" Her question got Fluttershy to roll her eyes with mild exasperation at how straight-to-the-point her wife could be sometimes. "As much as I'd love to cuddle you all day or maybe even make love to you all day, I doubt we'll be able to have a peaceful day in our life." In response to her words, Fluttershy nodded in resignation to the truth, placing her egg in its cradle with a kiss to it before placing a blanket around it to keep it warm.

"How long do griffon eggs usually take to hatch?" Fluttershy asked, getting Gilda to look at her from the door of their bedroom. "I know that our child's status as a hybrid will make how long it takes to hatch difficult to estimate and it's kind of selfish, but I'd like to have an idea of when I'll be able to hold my baby in my paws..." She said the last part almost guiltily, embarrassed at how 'selfish' she was, before her wife came over to her side and nuzzled her cheek lovingly.

"You're not selfish, Flutters. You deserve all the time to hold our baby as much as our baby deserves to be held by you. Normally, a griffon egg takes about a month to hatch after having been pregnant for three months. Since you're pregnant for a year, it could take anywhere from a month to another week before we get to see Scootaloo." Gilda's words got Fluttershy's ears to fold backwards with a sigh, her desire to see the baby she'd made growing more and more by the day as her patience to wait became less and less by the minute.

A knocking at the front door broke the moment, getting Gilda to snarl while Fluttershy let out a soft roar (A/N: Horses emit a neigh, whinny and squeal sound all at once that's called a roar) of warning to the one foolish enough to interrupt their moment. "Whoever thinks it's a good idea to disturb a grieving mother and her very good roommate, is going to have another thing coming..." The agitated mother-shy strode over to the door, preparing herself to look like she hadn't slept in months before she opened the door a crack and found herself tackled by a blue-and-rainbow-colored blur.

"I FOUND YOU, BITCH!" Rainbow Dash declared excitedly, straddling a surprised and blushing-at-their-position Fluttershy while Gilda stopped herself from throttling her flight schoolmate. "DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU, FLUTTERSHY?!" From the doorway padded a cockatrice chick, pulling his guardian off of the tearing up mother before engulfing her in a plume of his numbing breath to stop her from attacking her friend. "Tank," Rainbow growled. "What the fuck?!" The now named Tank gestured towards a crying and sniffling Fluttershy, getting his guardian to gape in realization of her mistake. "Shit, Fluttershy, I'm so sorry! It's just...I've been looking for you for the past three years and I-I-I-I'm so sorry!"

Gilda was nuzzling the whimpering, crying Fluttershy gently, pulling at Rainbow's heartstrings even more. "Dash," Began the griffon in the room, quietly. "I'm sure you didn't mean to make her cry, but please don't make her hurt after everything she's been through already."

"W-What's she been through?" Rainbow asked, rising to her paws as the gas wore off. "Have Ponyville's citizens been asses to her too?!"

"N-No, w-well yes, but...M-M-M-My baby...My baby!" Fluttershy whimpered, burying her face in Gilda's feathers where said griffon began stroking her mane carefully with her talons, whispering soft words of encouragement.

"'Baby'? You're pregnant?" Rainbow asked, excited at the idea of being an aunt.

"She was before she went into labor and realized that the majority of Ponyville's citizens wouldn't accept the little thing's existence, so she-with my help-gave it to a friend to mercy kill it in front of the whole town...Ponyville's still shaken, as are we." Gilda's words shook Rainbow, making her pale in horror as she fought the urge to hurl before grabbing Tank and emptying her stomach into his own, said cockatrice chick gladly accepting the meal. "Pinkie, the friend I mentioned, has taken it worse than poor Big Wings as she was the one to save the poor foal from the fate the three of us experienced being discriminated against.

Her words, although said sadly, held a poison to them that entered Rainbow as storm clouds began to thunder outside in concurrence with her emotions. Colorful lightning danced outside the cottage, the thunder demanding to know why it was summoned as the rain beat down like a meteor shower on any creature foolish enough to walk out in the open. Rainbow's eyes, narrowed and angry, began to glow as they light in the room dimmed to a black. Her colorful wings and hair also began to luminesce, mouth opening to reveal electricity was bouncing off of her predatory fangs. "They made my big sister cry..." Rainbow muttered, her thirteen years of life being protected from bullies by the eighteen year-old mare who sat crying before her. "They're not going to make it another day! Tank, stay here and keep them safe, while I RAZE THIS HAMLET TO THE GROUND!"

Roaring the last part to the sky, the Thestral flew out of the cottage with speed known only to the Wonderbolts or the lesser known Shadowbolts. Tank, saluting to his guardian seriously, before closing the door and looking for a way to turn on the lights. "Uh oh." Gilda said.

 **In Ponyville, with Pinkie**

Obnoxiously loud sobs escaped the pink crossbreed before she took another swig of Chartreuse, doing her damnedest to drink away the sorrow. "I DIDN'T ASK FOR THIS SHIT! OH CELESTIA, I'M TURNING OUT LIKE MY DAD...uhuh uhuhuh!" Her sobs made everypony else in the bar give her a wide berth, her normally fluffy mane now lying flat and brushed into a waterfall of depression, static electricity was bouncing off of her body as she tried to rub the emotional filth out of her fur which made more electricity fly off of her and hit other patrons until the only one left besides her was the bartender.

"Now listen, you mistake of nature," The bartender said flatly, his fur standing on end thanks to the electricity and the fact that a filthy crossbreed was in his bar, scaring off all of his customers. "Tone down the water works and the light show or I'll have you banned from entering my bar ever again!" In response to his threat, Pinkie rose to sit up straight and glare at him through large, puddle-making tears. "You might have the rest of the town fooled, but not me. I know that you're still just a godless, emotionless abomination that shouldn't be allowed to breath!"

Pinkie stared at him, anger blazing in her eyes which had the effect of getting more electricity to fly off of her. "Listen here-hic-buddy-"

"That's _Mr. Gobsmacker_ to you, filth!" The bartender said before he received an empty shot glass to the face, embedding broken glass in his face, getting him to shout in pain before Pinkie continued.

"I didn't ask to be born, Gobsmacker, but I'm not going to-hic-to waste my life listening to pricks like you badmouth me and my family because we're of mixed blood. So," She said, placing her left hind leg over her right as she swished the liquid in her bottle around, sitting on her bar stool calmly while the electricity had its way with the wood around her which made the bar look badass if anyone were to ask. "Wyverntooth's going to stop over analyzing the scenery and focus on me and my speech while you, Godsmack, listen closely as you accept the fact that you'll never amount to anything besides encouraging the addiction of a poor, crossbred rock farmer-now-party-pony-and-assistant-slash-surrogate-daughter-to-the-Cakes." Finished speaking as the stallion before her writhed in pain behind the counter, she downed the rest of her Chartreuse, looked inside the bottle in disappointment before throwing the empty bottle on him which made him writhe in more pain as she drunkenly stumbled out of the bar into the rain where she smiled sadly into the skies. "Wyverntooth?"

(What?)

"You're an asshole for shaping my world like this." She said flatly, her smile fading as she saw the colorful flashes of lightning ruined her belief that the world was sharing her grey feelings on everything around her.

(And what's your point?)

Scoffing, Pinkie continues stumbling back to the Cakes' home and workplace. "Right, you're unable to feel like the rest of us mortals. How silly of me to forget, huh?"

(It's not that I'm unable to feel, Pinkie, I just don't let-DUCK!) The moment she hears that, she dives for the mud to avoid a rainbow-colored missile with bat wings. (Shit, she's here later than I thought she'd be.)

"When did you think she'd be here?!" Pinkie demanded to nothing in particular, getting an 'Iunno' in her ear. "I hate you, Wyverntooth."

(And that matters to me, why?)

"Fuck you! Who is she-SHIT!" Jumping over a low kick, Pinkie answers with her own to the pegasus' face. Noticing the bat wings as well as the lightning she shot out of her fanged mouth, she cracked her neck with a groan. "Fucking perfect, an elementally-inclined pegasus, just what my day of alcoholism needed!" She stood on shaky legs, hoping her level of tolerance was low enough for her to be so alcoholically smashed she wouldn't notice when she's physically smashed. "Alright, bitch, nopony messes with Pinkamena Diane Pie when she's smashed and gets away with it. HYAH!"

She leaped for the blue mare's face, a dodge being the only response she received before getting a kick to the stomach which sent her flying through the dirt in a straight line. Groaning, she got up only to get a punch to the head, sending her flying through the dirt in another direction which knocked the large, reflective coin-like disk out of her tail and underneath her paw. A shake of the head and a realizing that the pegasus was upon her later, and Pinkie flipped the 'coin' into the air and held it in front of her face. The result was the pegasus headbutting the 'coin' and Pinkie through it, getting said mare to get knocked back a fair distance and pull out numerous exact copies of herself as a chain from the object which made the enraged pegasus blanch in shock at what she'd done.

The squadron of Pinkies looked around for the original, repeating the word 'fun' over and over before they heard the original speak up. "Pinkies, stand at points four-twenty through sixty-four-seventeen and form the transmutation circle for Structure Ten!" The Pinkies saluted before running to seemingly random positions and clapped their paws together, causing a large circle with several symbols and lines to arise in the area they'd been fighting in, getting the pegasus to start flying off before she was caught in a brand-spanking new, metal town hall with a color scheme similar to the babbie-thing Pinkie had mercy-killed in town square not too long ago. "Good...The girders are holding, but now we've got a large indent in town square. Wait, we'll just even out the ground around us and alter the structure when the pegasus calms down!"

Her words held true as the Pinkies began using their alchemical knowledge to flatten out the rest of the ground in town square before checking on the pegasus, finding she had worn herself out in her attempts to break out of the building they'd built. She'd actually damaged the infrastructure pretty well, having made holes in the walls before obviously having run out of steam. One of the Pinkies, apparently braver than the rest of the duplicates, picked up the pegasus onto her back while the rest of the Pinkies returned the town square to its original state although with the added bonus of a brand-spanking new, _wooden_ town hall with the color scheme of the babbie-thing Pinkie had mercy-killed in town square not too long ago.

Hiccuping, Pinkie made her way back to the Cakes' home with the pegasus on her back after the duplicates popped out of existence. _I'm too sober for this. I hope Dazzle has some Chartreuse at home..._ Making her way to the Sugarcube Corner, the rain beating down upon her passenger and herself without leaving them wet, she entered and locked the door behind herself before turning on the lights with a wince to find Mrs. Dazzle Cake was looking to her for an explanation. _Shit..._ "Hey, Dazzle." She offered with a weak, tired smile, only receiving a raising of a single eyebrow. "I made a friend at town hall."

"We don't have a town hall, Pinkie," The curvy toothpaste-blue mare said knowingly, judgmentally. "Not after the earthquake destroyed it twelve years ago." Her light crimson mane had grayish-crimson stripes in it, the way it was curled making her look like a cupcake like her husband had nicknamed her as, but right now it was held wrapped in a wet towel after a hot shower. "So, are you going to tell me what actually happened or will I have to ask Carrot to weasel it out of you, like he did about your status as a runaway?"

Pinkie's shoulders and head slumped, knowing that Dazzle knew her too well for her own good. Nodding in resignation, she got a few pieces of rope and held the pegasus down to a table as she explained guiltily. "I was out drinking, trying to forget the look on that babbie-thing's face when I ended its suffering, when the bartender made me angry and I stormed out and met this pegasus who attacked me in a blind rage, probably on something more illegal than the accidental discovery of Zap Apple Root Cider. We fought for a little, probably have a few marks, but I can't feel them at the moment which is better than the hole I feel in my midsection right now...And I used my alchemical knowledge to make a town hall building to keep her in place long enough to bring her here and restrain her. However, I did finish building an actual town hall in memory of the babbie-thing I mercy-killed..."

She'd said all of that in one breath, gasping for air afterwards while Dazzle took all of it in. "Did you at least keep the damages to a minimum, Pinkie? I don't want ponies coming here with pitchforks and torches to hurt you anymore than I do, but...mmm." Pinkie looked to Dazzle sadly, slumping against the table the pegasus was on in depression. "Pinkie, look at me," Said mare did, finding those brilliant rose eyes piercing her baby blues. "Carrot and I are here for you but you need to open up to us more if you plan to move passed this."

"Dazzle," Pinkie began weakly, shudders racking her body as she choked on her own voice. "I can barely tell myself what's wrong, let alone you or Carrot. I'm always tired, I'm always tempted to just lay in my room and wait for the ceiling to fall and crush me...I'm just...I'm just so done with this town and its shit!" She slammed her paws on the table at the last part, tears in her eyes falling onto the splintered wood that she fixed with a small use of chalk and alchemy to fix.

"I understand, dear, but you can't keep using alcohol, violence and your intelligence to escape your problems." Dazzle's words made Pinkie sigh heavily, getting the mare to cough into her elbow and change the subject. "Didn't you tell me that you didn't need that chalk anymore after you made the Pool Coin?"

Nodding, Pinkie answered with a weak smile, "Yeah I did, but it turns out that creating clones that live only a few seconds versus creating clones that live for more than an hour burns me out more than I thought. Right now...I think I'll use the chalk from now on, otherwise I might pass out in the middle of town and be left open to, well-you know." Dazzle nodded affirmatively before thanking her for fixing the damages she'd made.

Mrs. Cake asked, "What do you plan to do with this pegasus?"

"Cut off her wings, wear them for a costume, chop up her organs and make them into cupcakes that I'll sell to the customers." Pinkie said with a drunken giggle, her sober behavior vanishing as she giggled like the drunk she was. "Just kidding!" Her hair started to poof as the alcohol finally hit her after breaking down her tolerance. "I feel all warm inside...Why-hic-was I crying earlier? Hehehehehe! Maybe I should start parties with alcohol-hehehehe-what do you think Dazrot Cake?!" She giggled like a toddler, getting Dazzle to shake her head at the drunken antics of her employee and daughter-figure.

"Come on," Mrs. Cake said, hefting the crossbreed onto her back as she began the ascent upstairs. "Time for bed, Pinkie!"

"Ahh, but I wanna have-hic-have fun! There's so much fun to be had and it's just ready to be harvested like a boulder with peridot inside..." Pinkie's simile brought a smile to Dazzle's face, chuckling at her daughter-figure's brightened mood.

"Just because it's there, doesn't mean it's ready for you yet."

" _Yet!_ I can start a party for somepony tomorrow, maybe that rainbow pegasus..." All that followed was drunken rambling and giggles, the fluff of Pinkie's mane and tail becoming so great, she looked like like a pony and more like a large wad of cotton.

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

(PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A REALLY STUPID JOKE I MADE, I'M NOT GETTING PAID FOR THIS, IT'S JUST A JOKE I CAME UP WITH WHILE BUZZED!) Your regularly scheduled program will continue after a message from my friends at Assistance Incorporated! Take it away, Ma'am.

Assist Inc. Advertiser: Thanks, Wyverntooth. Hey everypony, have you ever needed help with getting into high places in the dark? Are your children suffering from constant night terrors? Do you ever feel like you're being watched while you sleep? Well then, worry no longer! Thanks to our Thestral employees, your worries will disappear with the flip of a light switch! Our employees' eyesight is incredible in the dark, allowing them to survey the darkest of areas known to Equestria and keep away the monsters that terrorize you and your kids in your sleep. Wyverntooth and PheasantJJ have actually invested in our services on more than one occasion.

*Raises my hands up in admittance of my 'crime'* Guilty as charged, your honor! Thanks to Assist Inc., I've been able to sleep soundly when friends and their young ones are over during the night. They're the best at what they do because they're the only ones who can do what they do. If you need their services, call-

Assist Inc. Advertiser: *Shutting my mouth* Just call +1-202-825-401! We're waiting for your call.

Pinkie: *In a drunken slur* FUCK YOU, WYVERNTOOTH! THIS IS OUR STORY, NOT YOUR AD CAMPAIGN FOR A COMPANY THAT DOESN'T EXIST IN YOUR PART OF THE MULTIVERSE!

Gods damn it, Pinkie! We're running out of Fourth Wall!

Pinkie: Fuck the Fourth Wall. If you won't, then I will!

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

A large wall of cotton that begged to be fluffed by the mare now putting her to bed. Dazzle, finding it nearly impossible to resist, began kneading and fluffing the mane, tail and coat of Pinkie Pie, getting said mare to groan in pleasure as all of the tension was eased out of her body. "I didn't know you-hic-knew massage, Dazzle?" Pinkie asked, moaning as a knot was moved out of her back.

Pinkie's mother-figure chuckled, understanding the misunderstanding. "I don't, dear, I'm just kneading you like I would a ball of dough I were going to make into a cake!" Another set of happy moans escaped the drunken mare, getting Dazzle to continue kneading in that one spot gently. "Besides, I bet I'd get a lot of customers if I were to make a cake as pink, vibrant and sugary as you are, right now." Pinkie moaned her approval of that idea, smiling like a complete dork which made Dazzle chuckle. "It's hard to believe that a ball of energy like you would ever have problems somewhere..."

Once more, a moaning answered her as her kneading continued, apparently the static that Pinkie generated naturally left quite the pleasant feeling on the body. This continued for a while with Pinkie moaning and groaning softly between drunken giggles, and Dazzle kneading the flesh and fluff of the pony before her. Downstairs, Rainbow had awoken to the sounds of drunken giggles and moans, getting her to blush at the implications of this as her body reacted accordingly. _What did I get myself into?_

 **Back at Gilda and Fluttershy's Cottage**

"Are you _sure_ she'll be okay, Flutters? I mean, Rainbow can take care of herself don't get me wrong, but she's going up against guards, racists, ponies larger than her and Pinkie who's doing who know what right now." Gilda's worrying received a shake of the head from Fluttershy, more worried about her egg than anything else.

"Gilda, if Rainbow weren't okay, this storm would've vanished into nothing. She's alive, she's fine, and there are no screams so she's not hurting anypony. There's nothing to worry about!" Saying that, Fluttershy brought her egg close to her chest and cuddled it, humming quietly to herself and her baby as her wife joined her in their nest. She opened her wing over Gilda before furling it, bringing her as close as possible, for the much needed snuggles. A sigh left Fluttershy as she placed her head down on the rim of their nest, "I'm glad I fell from Cloudsdale. All of the bull's worth it for a moment like this..."

Nodding in agreement, Gilda nodded off, being followed soon after by her wife.

 **Next morning**

The feeling of relieving of pressure awoke Fluttershy from her peaceful sleep to find that it was barely sunrise and that her egg was in pieces, embryonic sack all over her paws and legs, getting her to start sniffling in her bleary-minded state out of despair at the thought that she had killed her baby before she felt a tug on her teat. "Ow!" Fluttershy said pointedly, covering her mammaries with her leg before hearing the sound of a foal's squeal of hunger made her eyes widen. "...G-Gilda..." She whispered excitedly, getting a hum of response as her wife slowly roused to the world of the waking. "Open the curtains!"

Gilda did so, letting moonlight cascade over their nest to behold the creature they'd made together. Another squeal escaped the avian-like foal, getting Fluttershy to relax herself enough for her baby to stumble towards food. The creature was female with her genitals exposed to Gilda, he body covered in downy feathers and short fur, her overall color being that of a burnt nectarine in a beautiful blending of her mothers' bronze and yellow coats. Her legs were equine down to the knee before turning into the talons of an eagle chick, the claws being small and mostly harmless still as she was still a newborn. Atop her head and rear were feathers as well as long hair, the colors of her mane and equine tail being mostly violet although there were pink highlights at the tips of her 'flying' feathers much like Fluttershy's.

Her griffon mother pulled her away from her food, getting her to release another squeal of displeasure alongside a squawk of protest, as Gilda inspected her face to find her teal eyes as beautiful as her birthing mother's and her yellow muzzle to be as solid as the beak on her griffon mother's face. She flapped her wings, alerting both of her mothers to the fact that she had a four foot long-in-diameter wingspan, in protest and threatening indignation which got Gilda to let her stumble back to drink from Fluttershy's mammaries. A sigh of relief left said mare, both at the knowledge that her baby was fine and probably healthy and that the pressure in her mammaries was being relieved. "She's beautiful, Flutters!" Gilda said through happy tears, doing her best to wipe them away as they came but finding there to be too many to stop.

Fluttershy, smiling with the biggest smile on her face, nodded as she observed her foal's feeding. Releasing a motherly nicker towards her creation, she smiled through tears as her baby came up to investigate her mother's sound only to find herself caught in a loving embrace. Although the foal was probably still hungry, she obviously wasn't against the contact like she had been with Gilda trying to stop her from eating, cuddling up to her mother soundly as Gilda came to snuggle up to her wife. The foal, although covered in egg juices, was perfect and everything the two of them had ever wanted. She leaned towards Gilda and sniffed her before blowing through her nostrils curiously, getting Gilda to smile and gently blow on her baby through the nostril holes up her beak before nuzzling her coat. "Scootaloo," Fluttershy said through happy tears and sniffles. "My baby, Scootaloo, is finally here for me to hold in my paws and keep safe under and in my wings!"

The couple staid like that a while, marveling at their child in all her newborn glory, when she chirped in hunger and was allowed to return to drinking her mother's milk. A small yelp from Fluttershy alerted Gilda to her daughter's strong bite, getting her to look and see that she didn't have teeth but instead had a beak-like rim inside of her muzzle that substituted for teeth unlike a pegasus or a griffon. "Not so hard, Scootaloo." Gilda chuckled, nuzzling her daughter's flank gently to help her stand more stably. "Your mama can only take so many nips before she's done. Trust me, I know." She said the last part while staring into her wife's pouting face, a sour look in Fluttershy's eyes at being nipped so hard and at the joke Gilda had made to their daughter.

"That's not funny, Gilda." Fluttershy pouted in exaggeration, getting her wife to nuzzle her as she oversaw her daughter's eating before moving in for a drink herself. "Hey!" Came Fluttershy's yelp of surprise and protest to her wife's actions, "My milk's for Scootaloo, not you! Don't interrupt her eating!" The little hybrid, unknown to her mothers, had stumbled over towards the door and bonked her head against the wall as she tripped over herself and began whinnying in distress, getting Gilda to get up and council her little one.

"It's okay, Scoots," She cooed, calming the little equine/griffon-thing's cries of distress. "You're okay. All better, also, just between you and me, your mama's a little greedy with her milk." Chuckling out the last part loud enough for her wife to hear, she received a blow of air from Fluttershy that told her she wasn't amused with the jab at her possessiveness over Scootaloo's food.

 **Hours later**

Pinkie Pie, dragging a still unconscious rainbow pegasus by her tail in her mouth, knocked on the front door to Gilda and Fluttershy's cottage. "Who is it?" Came a tired Gilda's question, getting Pinkie to weigh her options of whether to question the exhaustion in her friend's voice or make a joke.

Easily, she picked the latter. Spitting out the pegasus' tail, she groaned, "Just a hungover alcoholic with a rainbow pegasus hostage..." The door opened, revealing Gilda to be out of breath and worn out. "What happened to you?" Pinkie asked flatly, bags forming under her eyes and her hair becoming straight laced from how much her headache was killing her, entering the cottage while simultaneously dragging the pegasus inside. "Did Fluttershy fuck you too roughly, or something?" Pinkie's question was asked awkwardly, as she wasn't the best at discussing sexual situations outside of crass humor.

A shake of the head got Pinkie to sigh in relief before a crash from upstairs got the two of them to rush up the stairs to find Fluttershy trying and failing to wrap a ribbon around a strange hybrid's wings. "Get back here, Scootaloo! You're making a mess." The exasperated Fluttershy cried out, trying to catch the little scamp as she made a mad dash towards the door and somehow stumbled her way down the stairs without hurting herself, the normally clean bedroom's bookcase being knocked down and the cradle they'd made for Scootaloo's egg having been toppled over. A curtain rod swung precariously by a screw, the curtain on it waving like the white flag of defeat, and a gas lamppost Pinkie had put in their house was on the floor. "Shit!" Fluttershy swore, pushing passed her friend and wife to chase after her child, getting Gilda make great haste after her with Pinkie following soon after with a groan.

"Fucking wonderful..." Pinkie muttered as she did her damnedest to catch the peach-colored ball of hyperactivity.

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! So, Scoots is the big hoot, right now. Yeah, I'm a fucker, but ya'll seem to enjoy my work so it's fine. Originally, I'd wanted Scootaloo to be Shimmer's kid from before/after she entered the mirror to Canterlot High. The backstory was that Shimmer moved on from Shining, got knocked up by a random griffon (probably her bodyguard) and send the resulting spawn to Ponyville to eventually be adopted by Fluttershy. I tried coming up with reasons as to why Shimmer would do that, why she'd enter the mirror in the first place and why Fluttershy'd adopt a random griffon/pony hybrid.

Well, at first, it was easy: Shimmer wanted to discover what was behind the mirror but also wanted to leave Equestria and Shining behind, Fluttershy's a maternal figure in both the show an' most depictions of her and I couldn't come up with a reason as to why Scootaloo would end up in Ponyville. Not a good one, that is. Then I started thinking, "Okay, so I want Fluttershy to be Scoots' mom, than who'd the father be. It has to be a griffon, an' there are only two griffons that are named in canon: Gilda and Gabbie...Wait, Gilda's only been given two episodes. One where she's a bitch, and one where she's supposed to be redeemed! She barely interacts with Fluttershy in canon, and they're both friends of Rainbow...what if I paired 'em together?!" It was so outta fuckin' left field, I didn't know if I'd be able to make it work.

However, with some character development an' some good ol' assholish perseverance, I did it. In the rough draft, I'd rush it to a Pinkie/Rainbow fight scene that I liked the idea behind but didn't enjoy the build up to, so I scrapped it for its rushed plot an' shitty fight. The fight wasn't much better in this draft, it's mostly just Pinkie gettin' fucked up before pullin' a deus ex machina-item out of her ass (tail) and fixing everything, but I liked it better than just "Pinkie is genius in school and fighting, the end".

The Pool Coin's a bit of a reference to both Bender from Futurama and the Mirror Pool in canon. The Futurama reference is in the Da Vinci episode, where there's a big ass coin Bender steals at the bottom of a pool (fountain). Now, Pinkie's an alchemist an' one whose whole life is rather...well, forward-propelled. With that in mind, she'd wanna be able to create a transmutation circle quickly and without chalk as it wasn't a guaranteed method of preparation on rainy days or on soil, so she made an object that would allow her to clone herself at high speed for different situations and circumstances.

Not much else to say so, (As Always: thanks for bein' here, R&R, no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)

Pinkie: I'm too sober for this level of loudness!


	11. Gal Pals

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! Having experienced all of the Mane 6 minus one, let's take a look at AJ and how she's doin', eh? Maybe I can work my magic on how her situation is. I'm not good at writing AJ or anyone in her family, so bare with me; this chapter is gonna be weird, jarring and probably crappy.

Pinkie: Fuck you, Wyverntooth! It's getting good, and you have to go and ruin it. *Sticks her tongue at me before finding a bottle of Chartreuse in her mouth which she begins drinking like she's a baby to a bottle of formula*

That'll shut her up for a couple minutes, so let's get started before someone tries to sew my mouth shut. *I tilt my head, dodging an empty wine bottle as Pinkie continues drinking her Chartreuse*

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

One swift kick to the trunk of an apple tree and, like that, the ripest, juiciest fruit fell only to be caught by a bucket. "Ah'm still lost as to what she can't learn 'ere that she'll learn there, Darlin'?" Hard Cider said, his hitchcollar seeming an odd accessory to wear alongside his Stetson hat but he pulled it off quite well. 'Tall' was the first word that came to the mind of most who encountered him for the first time, with the second being 'intimidating'. He stood at a whopping seven-foot-seven, his lineage obviously having come from the great draft horses in the eras when equines were primitive animals, with a butch red mane and tail as well as a dappled coat that made many question he was an Apple or not. His cutie mark, a tankard of what was assumed to be cider with a half-eaten apple on its side, told everypony that he was indeed an Apple and not a Lemon like many joked.

His large, strong legs had a white 'sock' beneath his knee that ended in his large, shoed hooves. Although he knew horseshoes weren't necessary as long as he took good care of himself, he had a tendency to forget that and just wore them anyway, forgetting they were on had his wife not reminded him to remove them at the dinner table. A length of straw was in his teeth, something for him to chew while he and his wife worked. Said mare sighed, her smaller size compared to her husband getting her to stand on her hind legs whilst using his larger legs for support after placing the bucket down. "Cider, you know that you can't teach our babies the reason the stars fall out of the sky every few years, or why the caterpillars turn into butterflies after the snow melts. And you know that I can't teach them the hows and whats behind our economy or our sciences. That's why we sent Big Mac to school in the first place, before he decided to drop out, that is. Shouldn't AJ get the chance you didn't when you're her age?"

Cider looked to his wife contemplatively, whenever she'd asked that question he'd said yes, but he also knew that he had pride to uphold. "Ah can too teach 'em why the stars fall or why the caterpillars turn into butterflahs! By hook or crook, Ah'll teach 'em everythin' Ah know in the book, just ya'll watch. Hey, Mac!" He called to his son, getting said red stallion to approach from afar while Peach groaned in exasperation at her husband's damned pride.

"Celestia make this painless..." She muttered, getting a curious hum from her husband. "I said, 'Celestia make this painless'." Her words got Cider to look at her funny before hopping in excitement until she raised a cleft hoof to halt his onslaught of praises and hollers. "No, Cider, I'm not going into labor just yet. We're only six months along, six more left." Cider's spirits seemed to fall at that, his head comically fell as he came down to his knees dramatically, getting his wife to look around anxiously in case somepony saw him acting so ridiculously. "Cider, get up and tell your son why you called him here."

Hearing that, the large stallion rose to smile with the proudest, most shit-eating grin anypony had ever seen on his face as he began his lesson. "Yer ma gave me an idea an' Ah think it's time Ah teach ya why the stars fall and why the caterpillars turn into butterflies after the snow."

Peach looked away, shaking her head in embarrassment for her foolish husband. Mac, confusedly looked to his apologetic-looking mother. "Uh...Alrigh'?"

"Now, the stars fall from the sky after the ursa minors wear out the threads holding the stars above the Earth. And the caterpillars, well-" He suddenly found an apple in his mouth, silencing his lesson, courtesy of a rubbing-her-temples Peach Velvet.

"That's enough outta you, Cider. Mac, dear, go on back to what you're doing before your father distracted you." She smiled weakly, apologetically to her eldest child.

"Okay, Ma." Big Mac, making his way back to work while his mother shot her husband a dirty look that he smirked at as he chewed up the apple, core and all.

"Told ya Ah could teach 'em somethin'!" His proud smirk wasn't mirrored by Peach, her head falling into her hooves in exasperation.

"Yeah," She said simply. "You've taught your son that you're as uneducated as you are enormous...in and out of the bedroom." Finishing her statement with a seductive lick of her lips and a glance to his loins, she chuckled at his nervous grin. "But, still, AJ's a mare in a stallion's world and she needs to be smart enough to take care of herself outside of the harvesting of apples." Her words were serious, concerned and fitting of her mother status, getting Cider to nod sadly.

He sighed heavily, coming down to lay on his knees beside his standing, beloved wife. "Huuuuh...yer right Peach, an' I hate admittin' it, but yer right. I guess I just don' want 'er to make a life fer 'erself outside of this family like she did when she visited yer side'o the family in the big city." Peach's lip curled into a kind smirk as she grossed her legs and leaned against the large, stocky stallion she'd had two-going-on-three children with.

"She's not going to be your baby girl all her life, Cider, but if you help me give her the best chance possible, she won't feel like we're holding her hostage. If she has the resources, we should give her the opportunity to use them and forge her own path. And, if she decides to leave, well then it's her choice but she'll always have happy memories of us and will feel safe here if she ever has problems." Her words got Cider to blow air out of his nostrils, starting to feel the years weigh down on his shoulders, his hazel eyes scanning over the horizon of the farm with the wind blowing through his mane and his ears.

"Eeyup..." He said simply, getting his wife to snort nostalgically with a smile that he soon mirrored as they chuckled at their younger days.

"I'm still shorter than you but you could make me look tall compared to how short-winded your speech was back then." Peach said, her words making a loud rumble build in Cider's chest before coming out as a loud guffaw that reverberated through him and into the small mare beside him, getting her to start laughing too. Slowly, their laughing calmed down until the air felt as warm and crisp as the spring they'd consummated their marriage and allowed Big Macintosh to become a part of their world. Suddenly, the sound of approaching hooves brought their attention to their nearing daughter, her green eyes full of worry and fear, getting the two parents' faces to become serious. "What's wrong, AJ?"

"That bugbear's at it 'gain!" Applejack said angrily, getting Cider to rise as the three of them took off towards the barn. There they saw the hybridization of a bumblebee and a bear of some variety, its eyes as large as horseshoes and multifaceted like the insect it was. Fierce jaws full of sharpened fangs made up its muzzle before it roared and extended a pair of crab-leg like mandibles which it used to grab and devour a shrieking chicken. Head mostly white with a pair of large antennae sticking out from its forehead, its chest was black and attached to a pair of dangerous looking claws at the end of powerful arms it used to demolish the family's chicken coup. Between the beast's hind quarters and chest was its white stomach, a v pattern of black and yellow that split in the middle to climb up the two muscular, white-furred arms attached to its midsection. Finally, its hindquarters were black with a stinger sticking out of its tail bone with venom dripping from the extension.

"Hell's gonna be kinda compared to what Ah'll do to ya, ya pest!" Cider ground out, leaping over the fence and slamming his hooves down on its back, getting the beast to roar in pain as he'd crushed its large, bee-like wings. It turned to him, saliva falling out of its snarling mouth, and lunged for his throat, getting him to duck and headbutt it in the neck. Following up his headbutt with a swift punch to its face, he received a deep slash across the chest, leaving a wound which the monster used to hold onto him and spin before tossing him a story up. "NOPE!" Came Cider's cry of disapproval before he found the beast was waiting to impale him through the chest with its stinger directed skyward.

Before he could land on the venom-filled extension the bear was shoved aside by both of the Apple siblings at once, allowing their father to land and survive although with a deep grunt of pain from his poor landing. "Leave mah Pa 'lone, ya filthy beast!" Applejack said, twirling a lasso as her brother did the same from the other side of the bear. "We got a plan an' it's gonna send ya to where ya belong..." Grinning victoriously, the sounds of air being pushed aside in a small spaces was heard as multiple darts embedded themselves into the beast's hide, getting it to roar in pain. "HA!"

The bugbear fell to the ground, snarling weakly, as it fought the drug inside of the darts. "Where did those darts come from?" Peach asked, helping her husband up as she did so.

"They came from me." Came the voice of an unknown mare, getting the married couple to look and find a beige-colored mare whose mane and tail was blue with a primrose/rosy-pink streak going through it while her cerulean eyes were those of a proud S.M.I.L.E. Agent if the badge on her vest was anything to go by. "I've been tracking that beast for months but, thanks to your efforts, I can send it to Tartarus where it belongs. Here's the reward, and say goodbye to your memories of that beast or ever seeing me!" She tossed a pouch of golden bits to Big Mac who caught it before he and his family saw a flash of light.

 **A few days later**

Pinkie bounced along the road, any worries nonexistent in her demeanor as she'd drunken away all of her depression days ago, with her hair curly and fluffy again. Eyes closed as she bounced, she ended up with her muzzle colliding with a bandaged wall of meat, getting her to open her eyes and look to find she'd run into her former student's father. "Hi there, Chief!" Pinkie said chipperly, using the nickname he'd told her to use. "What can I do for you? If you're looking for medical advice for your wounds then I'm the wrong pony to ask. Talk to Fluttershy or a nurse 'cause all I know are the recipes for a few salves and all they do is relieve aches. Or maybe Peach's due and you want me to prep a party for the foal?!" She was wagging her tail excitedly at the prospect of preparing a party. "I'll go get my party cannon!" Dashing off to get said equipment, she found herself being carried in Chief's mouth by the scruff. Pinkie looked to him confusedly, struggling to escape before shrugging and sipping a cup of imaginary tea. "Did you steal it from the Sugarcube Corner and try to use it at your house and now are giving me the silent treatment because you're too proud to accept the fact that you need a crossbreed to do something for you?!"

She continued babbling, gasping and laughing hysterically out of the blue as she did, garnering the attention of many passersby to the mild embarrassment of her carrier. "What's like? Being called a racist and an abomination sympathizer, I mean. Do some folks just call you a racist 'cause you standby as Fluttershy and me are bullied and then called a sympathizer when you step in or is it that you organize the bullying and then make yourself look good by stepping in. HUUUUUUHHHH!" She gasped as she began asking conspiratorial questions, until they reached Sweet Apple Acres where Hard Cider had the look of a weary traveler and a traumatized war hero.

He spit her out in front of the barn, sweating like a sinner in church as he prepared himself for what he was going to do. "Are you going to try to kill me?! If you are then you've got another thing coming, cowboy! I know how to make stallions like you cr-MMMMMmmmmMmhmhmehmdinhmsnfsjjnf!" Cider, sighing in exasperation at the small mare's babbling, placed a hoof over her face and specifically mouth before he felt her tongue touching the flesh of his hoof, getting him to flinch away with a blush as that was an erogenous zone for earth ponies.

"I know how to make you cr-"

"Shut up, Shank High!" He said finally, his face the definition of worn out.

"It's Pinkie Pie." She responded flatly, eyes bored and wandering before she saw something shiny. "OOH!" Wandering off, Pinkie found her scruff in Cider's mouth again. "Let me go, Chief...I wanna go do stuff!" Her whining made the stallion sigh with a chuckle before he held up a hoof to stop her from speaking.

"Listen," Cider said tiredly, itching his chest slightly with a wince. "Ah'd like ya to be mah kid's teacher again. And before ya remind me that ya quit, Ah need to tell ya'll that Ah'm askin' ya as a friend to do me a solid favor." His words made Pinkie's ears fold back in displeasure at where this originally one-sided conversation was going, her hair straightening.

"Chief, let's get something straight, okay? We're not friends," Hearing that, his ears folded back and he winced at the coldness in her words. "We're acquaintances, if that. Peach is nice to me, but she and I aren't exactly friends either. And you, well, you've always stood on the sidelines while I was being bullied over the years. If I were to owe you anything, it'd be a seriously-cold cold shoulder. So please, _enlighten_ me, why would I teach your kids when they've made it clear they don't wanna learn or don't want me to teach them?" Her words stung like the bugbear's claws had stung his chest before he'd flattened it. Pinkie's eyes were cold like the Frozen Heavens towards the north, getting him to bow his head in shame at his mistake.

Pinkie turned away to leave before Chief asked, "What'll ya do for a livin', Ms. Pie, if yer not gonna teach?"

She scoffed bitterly, "I didn't make my living as a teacher, Chief. Even though I did it as an occupation, I wasn't paid by the folks in charge 'cause I'm a 'filthy' half-breed. All of my income came from working with Dazzle and Carrot Cake at the Sugarcube Corner, my parties bringing in the biggest crowds. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna help my friends take care of a hyperactive foal!" Her hair was once more curly and her face was once more a grin, although the look in her eyes wasn't as jolly as her face would suggest.

Cider sighed heavily, once again grabbing Pinkie by her scruff and taking her inside of the barn where he uncovered several barrels of his name sake. He smirked at the stars in Pinkie's eyes, Gobsmacker having complained about how much she drank and how many customers she scared off. "Does this interest ya?" Pinkie only nodded dumbly, her face agape and her eyes wide, saliva dribbling out of her mouth. "Would ya teach mah kids in exchange fer alcohol?" Once again, Pinkie nodded mutely before Chief covered his namesake, getting her to whimper sadly at the lack of seeing her favorite thing in Equestria. "When can ya start?"

He waved his hoof in front of her face for a few minutes before Pinkie shook her head, tapping her chin with a contemplative hum. "I'll start in a week. That should give me enough time to prepare for your kids' lessons and work out a schedule that'll suit them." Cider nodded with a relieved smile, extending his hoof for a shake.

"Promise not to say anythin' to mah family?" He asked hopefully, getting Pinkie to groan as she reluctantly made a Pinkie Promise.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye; I won't spill a bean that will make you cry!" Her promise made Cider chuckle at the little dance she did with her words. "Anyway, I'd better help my friends with their foal otherwise they'll throw a fit." She trotted out of the barn, practically glowing, when Applejack came by in front of her.

"Hey, could ya-" Applejack began.

"Not now!" Pinkie interrupted, getting the orange mare to bow her head at how quickly she'd been shot down. "I've gotta prepare shit to teach you and your brother after I help some friends with a child problem!" Her words got AJ to look at her in surprise and excitement as she chased after the party pone.

"'Child problem'? Anythin' I can do to help?" AJ asked, the desire to earn brownie points with her old/new teacher. Pinkie skidded to a halt, a paw to her chin and her eyes cast skyward.

"I s'pose, but it's not up to me..." Pinkie said, trotting along with a jolly smile on her face as she and AJ made their way to Fluttershy's cottage where the sounds of chaos could be heard. "It's up to them." She pulled out an enormous megaphone, knocked on the door and and yelled into it the moment Rainbow opened the door. "IS IT OKAY IF APPLEJACK'S IN ON THE SECRET?!"

Rainbow, dizzy and somehow not deaf, was blown back into the shuddering house before Scootaloo ran out of the cottage like a racing horse. "Damn it, Pinkie, she's loose! Get back here." Saying that, the Thestral flew and dove for the foal, catching her with ease before getting nipped several times by the little thing. "Ouch! Fluttershy's right, you are a biter-OW!" Scootaloo, desperate to be free, flapped her downy wings and bit her aunt, gliding in a wonky circle due to inexperience.

"Rainbow," Pinkie called up, running up the side of a tree and leaping towards the foal's general direction. "I need a cloud-poline!" The pegasus flapped her wings heavily, her sweat mixing with her magic to form clouds that Pinkie grabbed and used as a trampoline before leaping upward, catching Fluttershy's little scamp. "GOTCHA!"

Scootaloo, obviously displeased with her situation, began to squeal and scream in Pinkie's ear which got her eyes to go in opposite directions as her brain was scrambled. "Scootaloo..." Fluttershy said, her daughter hearing her and meeting her gaze to find the eyes of an unhappy mother waiting for her. The pegasus tapped her paw against the floorboards expectantly, her stare causing her foal to freeze in fear which allowed Rainbow to take her from a dizzy Pinkie and return her to her mother.

Fluttershy accepted the offering of her daughter gratefully, nodding her thanks to her sister-figure before carrying her inside with could only be described as 'mama horse noises' being the only sound she made. "Ah'm so lost."

"No you're not, you're Applejack. If you're Lost, you'd be failing to read simple stories on a radio station here in Ponyville!" Pinkie said in a snarky tone, nudging her student in the ribs lightly. "Get it?"

"No." Applejack responded flatly.

Pinkie's face fell at that before smiling again and trotting in after her fellow crossbreed. "So, where's Gilda?"

"She left." Fluttershy responded simply, getting Pinkie to blink in confusion. "'We can't have the whole town figure out Scootaloo's heritage or your involvement', so she left and handed off ownership of the cottage over to me. This is, legally, my cottage and Gilda's moving back to Griffonstone."

"Uh, what?" Applejack asked, getting Fluttershy to turn and see her.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've met?" She extended a paw, only receiving a hesitant, unsure look from the mare as she made to shake before Fluttershy retracted her paw understandingly. "Right, my mistake..." Without another word, she returned to laying down for the foal to drink from her mammaries with a blanket over her haunch to have some form of decency.

Applejack looked to her side, seeing Pinkie was staring blankly off into space. "Did Ah do somethin' wrong?" She asked, clueless as to the mare's behavior to her.

"Right, nopony really knows about her." Pinkie said with understanding in her eyes. As the party pony began explaining everything, Fluttershy was deep in those while her foal was deep in the consumption of her milk.

 _What makes you think that your being here will raise suspicion, Gilda? Scootaloo looks more like me than anyone and we could paint her talons to look like paws. Why'd you leave? There are other ways to keep our love a secret..._ Her thoughts continued, trying to understand why Gilda had left. Every time she came up with a reason to justify an action, she found herself with an alternative that would suffice. Whenever she found herself about ready to admit that Gilda had left because she hadn't thought it over, a new problem arose from the idea of her staying before she found an alternative. _Did I scare you off? Did you decide to leave me? Is that what this is?! No, Gilda wouldn't do that! I've been with her long enough to know she's not that type of girl. But why would she leave if there are so many reasons she can stay without raising suspicion?_ Again, her thoughts kept spiraling down that rabbit hole until she just gave up and focused on her foal, suckling from her teat.

 _I guess I'll never know, and maybe...maybe it's better that way. Maybe it's better that I never know the answer. Maybe it's best if I just focused on Scootaloo and her needs._ As she thought that, said foal bit into her teat, getting her yelp and flinch in pain. "Ow! _Careful_ , Scootaloo. Mama can only give so much milk before she hurts." The foal, although ignorant to her mother's message, did ease up on how hard she went at her food source. Fluttershy, pleased with how her foal was going at her mammaries, hummed in half-contentment with the moment. _If only you were here, with me, Gilda..._

"So that's the whole story?" Applejack asked Pinkie, getting said mare to nod succinctly. A hoof to her head as she processed everything, released a heavy breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Well, Ah'll be an ass's aunt, Ah didn't know things were this bad. How long's this been goin' on?"

"Single-parenting or Fluttershy's struggle with the masses?" Pinkie asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The second one." Applejack answered, getting Pinkie to sigh and turn to Rainbow who had just finished throwing up into Tank's mouth, gargling on some water to ease the pain. Pinkie, after rubbing her fur excitedly, carefully and cautiously touched Rainbow, resulting in a static shock that caused the Thestral to puff up in surprise with her wings opened all the way to make herself look bigger.

Confused at why Pinkie did that, Rainbow asked, "Why'd you shock me?"

"Applejack wants to know how long Fluttershy's been struggling with the public as a crossbreed." Pinkie said, getting Rainbow to take a deep breath as she smoothed out her feathers and fur.

Finished smoothing herself out, Rainbow simply said, "Her whole life."

"How in tar nations has she made it this far?!" AJ demanded, getting the mother to clear her throat and glare softly at the three talking about her like she wasn't in the room.

"I've made it this far with the help of amazing friends and incredible family, like my little Scootaloo." Saying the last part, she brought out her foal and nuzzled her compassionately, much to the foals chagrin as she struggled to return to eating before Fluttershy allowed her to do as such. "But as for the single parenting...Well, Gilda left a couple days ago and I've managed as best as I can with both my ball of energy and Rainbow Dash's little hunter causing mayhem."

"Hold on a minute, ya mean to tell me that ya'll've been strugglin' 'tween that little thin' an' the Batpony's bird-dragon?!" Applejack asked in shock, getting Fluttershy to simply nod. "That don't make no sense, see! Yer a crossbred-MMPH!" The spoken to crossbreed stuck her paw in Applejack's mouth, shutting her up long enough to talk.

"Please forgive me, but be quiet. I've heard it all, and now that you're in my home, in front of my baby, I'm not going to stand for being insulted for being alive." Her eyes stern, the eyes of a mother and a mare who had put up with too much to let it slide. "As first impressions go, you're not exactly batting a thousand." Fluttershy's words stung at AJ's heart, reminding her that even though her former teacher and guidance councilor were 'filthy' crossbreeds like Filthy Rich had said, they were still ponies.

Bowing her head with closed eyes, she sincerely apologized, "Ah'm sorry, Ms. Shy. Please forgive mah misdemeanor..." She suddenly found a paw stroking her mane and a foal trying to remove her hair tie while simultaneously attempting flight, getting her to chuckle humbly.

"I'd forgiven you the moment you stepped in my home, Applejack. Besides, it appears my daughter's taken quite a liking to you, and I was going to say that although you're not batting a thousand...you're not exactly batting a zero, either." Fluttershy's words were maternal, kind and pleasant as she continued to stroke the younger mare's mane.

Applejack, accepting the kind strokes, asked, "How can ya'll be so nice if ya'll've suffered such cruelty?"

"You know," Fluttershy chuckled. "I ask myself the same question everyday, and the only answer I can come up with is that I was raised well enough to know that the Golden Rule is a virtue beyond any other." Scootaloo, finally managing to remove the hair tie in Applejack's tail, ended up somersaulting into the wall where she began chirping like a chick in search for its mother before said mare came and shushed her worries with comforting hug.

"M-May..." Applejack began, getting Fluttershy to look to her with a single raised eyebrow. "M-M-May Ah hold yer-uh..."

The mother held Scootaloo up like a presentation, offering, "'Foal'?"

"Yeah. May Ah hold yer foal, Ms. Shy?" She received a quiet nod and a kind smirk from the mother as she passed her daughter into Applejack's embrace, getting the foal to blow curiously which made the Apple gal blow back which made the foal giggle excitedly. She giggled in response, watching as Scootaloo played with the hair tie she'd won in her struggle against the tyranny of Applejack's tail. "..." Cider and Peach's daughter was silently staring at the foal in her 'arms'. (A/N: From now on, just for simplicity's sake, let's just call their front legs arms when referring to hugs or embraces of the like. 'Kay?) "She's so precious..." Applejack muttered, getting Fluttershy to chuckle at how awestruck her daughter had left the farm gal.

Nodding, Fluttershy asked, "Isn't she? And just think, your mother's going to have a foal too. You'll be an amazing big sister and, if it's okay with your family, set up play dates between your mother's upcoming foal and my little Scootaloo." Applejack, excitement in her eyes, turned to the cottage's owner with a look of hope on her face.

"Do ya really think so?!" She asked ecstatically, merely getting a nervous nod from the mother who soon after took her foal out of Applejack's arms.

Fluttershy, rocking her foal back and forth in a rocking motion, lulled Scootaloo to sleep as a storm started outside from what sounded like Pinkie and Rainbow having a little brawl. "Yes, I do. I really think you'd make an amazing big sister if we're going to use Scootaloo as a judge, and I think your little sibling would love to have a playmate like her. Tank," She called to the cockatrice, getting him to approach before he found himself scooped up underneath Fluttershy's wing, making him squawk in surprise before he found himself in the same crib as Scootaloo in Fluttershy's bedroom. He soon after ended up curling up beside his playmate, cuddling her and her cuddling he in turn.

A sigh at the cuteness of the two infants as well as relief from Fluttershy was the only sound to be heard besides their breathing and the rocking of their crib. "What's it like, bein' a ma Ah mean?" Applejack asked suddenly, getting her host to turn to her with a questioning grin.

"That depends on what you're looking for." Fluttershy answered vaguely. "If you're looking for hair-pulling stress and large amounts of sleep deprivation, then there's nothing better than parenthood...unless you count what I've heard about military boot camps." Applejack's ears folded back at the negativity in Fluttershy's tone before said mare continued, "However, if you're looking for these tender moments that make it all worth it, where nothing can go wrong and the only thing that matters in the world is seeing your little one smile...than you needn't look anywhere but take care of others. Whenever Scootaloo smiles, laughs or plays, I feel like I'm free of the struggles that life has thrown me and it's as if I'm a little again. If she cries, hurts herself or feels scared, I know that she looks to me for guidance and I know that no matter what, I'll make her world better..."

Such sagely words struck a cord in Applejack's heart. Tears streamed down the sides of Applejack's face as she held a hoof up with a look of determination, getting Fluttershy's ears to fold back in guilt as a large drop of sweat came down from her head. "It's official, yer the best mare I've met 'sides mah Granny an' mah Ma!" Fluttershy's eyes widened in shock, sucking in her lips out of nervousness as Applejack clasped her hooves over the cottage owner's paws. "If e'er ya need help, don' hesitate to ask me 'cause Ah'll come runnin'! Yer amazin', Ms. Shy!"

Fluttershy was suddenly trapped in a bone crushing hug, the feeling of her lungs being crushed defining her existence before she was freed from the earth pony's clutches. Gasping for air, her lungs greedily accepting the wonderful air around her, she spoke. "Although I thank you for the offer, Applejack, I don't plan on burdening anypony with my daily struggles. _I'm_ the councilor, maybe not the high school student councilor anymore now that Pinkie's no longer teaching, but I'm still the student councilor. It's my job to come running to the aid of ponies in emotional need, not yours. Don't burden yourself with my job when you've your own to worry about." A serene smile from Fluttershy made Applejack's eyes widen in awe, amazed that such an oppressed mare could be this kind and knowledgeable.

Knocking from the front door broke the moment, getting Fluttershy to close her bedroom door and make her way down the stairs with AJ close behind. The cottage's guest opened the door, finding a small group of the town's more vocal purists glaring passed the Apple gal and at the cottage's owner. "Why are ya'll 'ere?" AJ asked obliviously, getting Fluttershy to sigh, before she noticed the unconscious Pinkie and Rainbow being tied to upright logs. "What'd ya'll do to 'em?!"

"We're cleaning the town of vermin!" Said the mare in the lead, a popular runner-up for mayor named Spoiled Milk. Strong opal eyes, a mane and tail made up of two shades of magenta as well as a moderate heliotrope, and a grayish pink coat; she wasn't an unattractive mare. A sparkling, diamond ring was her cutie mark and dark, purple eye shadow revealed how much of a pony of quality she was. A leonine tail flicked behind her as her three-toed paws dug into the mud beneath her feet, a look of disgust marring her attractive features. "Move aside, mud horse, or risk getting trampled." To emphasize her insult, she threw mud into Applejack's face, causing laughter to spur from within the crowd.

A grimace came across Applejack's face, removing the mud from where it was over her eyes. Finished removing the mud, she glared at the mob fiercely. "Ya'll ain't hurtin' 'em while I breath," Saying that, she strode out of the house and closed the door behind herself, coming face to face with Spoiled Milk. "Ya pricks an' bitches!" Like a single spark starting a forest fire, a fire was ignited in the mob as they charged the Apple gal.

"So be it..." Spoiled said, a sinister sneer gracing her lips, standing back as her followers came after the 'mud horse' before her. AJ, for her part, was pissed. Some older ponies came before her, random mares that worked at the hospital, receiving swift punches that left horseshoe impressions on their faces as they were left unconscious. A pair of stallions came next, one of them being a former classmate of hers before he found himself with AJ's crotch over his neck as she stood and spun on her forelegs, tossing him into a tree. The other stallion was trickier, his smaller size allowing him to get past her long enough for a larger pony to try restraining her, only for her to charge magic into her legs and slam them into the ground. What resulted from this maneuver, many would wonder, was a cracking of the ground as boulders violently surfaced from the dirt underneath more than a few members of the mob.

Turning her attention to the boulders, she embedded her front hooves into one of them and stood on her hind legs, tossing the one she'd grabbed into the mob which resulted in several ponies being sent flying away. "My Celestia," AJ said ecstatically, hopping from one hind leg to the other as she punched one of her fore-hooves into the other. "That was amazin'! Let's see if Ah can do that 'gain..." Repeating the process, she found it harder this time as a mare rammed her stomach, causing her to crumple in on herself and flatten the poor sod who'd thought it smart to ram her. Applejack released a mighty scream of warning to the rest of the mob, getting many to back down before the few stupid enough to continue made their move.

One of them, a veteran mare from the retirement home for seniors, dodged around the next boulder AJ threw and kicked her in the stomach, causing the contents of her stomach to spill out violently all over while the mare continued towards the cottage and kicked into it only for Fluttershy to send out a blast of air with her wings mixed with her magic. An angry Fluttershy stomped out of the house after the veteran had been sent flying into and through a tree, glaring Hell at all of the ponies in the mob around her home. "You come onto my property, attack my friends, threaten my life, endanger my child's life and you've the _gall_ to call me _vermin!_ " Her eyes were full of hatred, an emotion a reawakening Rainbow Dash had only seen on her face once before. Wind and dust kicked up around the enraged mother, getting Rainbow to break her bonds and get Pinkie, Applejack and herself the Hell out of there. "The only 'vermin' in this forest that I see...IS _YOU!_ "

As if a tornado were unbottled, Fluttershy flapped her wings and released a set of twisters that began tearing up the area the mob was in, throwing them every which way as the flora reached out to harm those who'd dared attacked the one who'd made the tornadoes. Eventually, after the twisters had faded into nothingness and all that remained of the mob was a shocked stupid Spoiled Milk, Fluttershy fell to the ground and wept at having harmed another being again.

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! I know, I said this chapter's s'posed to be 'bout AJ, but...I just couldn't seem to keep it on her without it feeling forced and too unnatural. All of the other Mane 6 I can write alright, but Applejack's...well, in canon she's a stubborn bitch with honesty held close, but that's kinda it. She's a farmer, a shoulder to cry on but she doesn't feel very fleshed out like the rest of the Mane 6. She doesn't have much for dreams like the others, she's not usually the focus of any episodes, an' they don't give her enough to really deepen her character 'sides "I'm a cowgirl, I'm honest an' ya can trust me!"

Now, I love AJ as a character, she's one of my favorite ponies, but out of the Mane 6...She's not one I can write very well. I'm not sure if it's 'cause I don't have many memories of her that really help me define her as a character or if I'm just not good at writing characters that are honest enough to explain why you and your life suck. If ya watch the Mentally Advanced Series by FiMFlamFilosophy, ya might notice that, outta the Mane 6, AJ feels the closest to canon compared to the others who're realistic portrayals of how the characters act. AJ feels...Natural amongst the MAS 6 (As I'll call 'em for simplicity's sake an' the coolness of how it sounds) with how she's portrayed an' how believable that that's the canon AJ bein' portrayed in a realistic world.

My inability to write AJ aside, let's focus on the other issue with this chapter: how weirdly it's written. I mentioned that I'm not good at writing AJ or her family, and that's a big portion of why this chapter seems more outta place than the others. Because of that, I had to use other characters as an in between to focus on AJ like they do in the show, as she hasn't had an episode that helps us identify parts of her personality in a vacuum without help from other characters. Without other characters to bounce off of, we've seen what the rest of the Mane 6 are like: Pinkie's emotionally fragile, Twilight's neurotic and always trying to be organized, Rarity's struggling with work, Fluttershy's stressed out an' Rainbow's working to achieve her dream while branching out her interests. But AJ doesn't have that kinda episode, where we see what makes her tick.

I've toiled over why this is and the only answer I'd come up with's that AJ doesn't have a driving force 'sides others. Without other characters, she's nothing. She's the character that can fit with all of the others given time, where we see who she is when they're around but when she's alone...there's nothing to her. When Pinkie's alone, we got to see that she's dependent on other ponies to keep her in the now 'cause otherwise she feels abandoned and thus must create facsimiles of her thoughts onto objects to keep her company. We saw that when Rarity's alone, she realizes that work has had a negative impact on her personal life as she treats them as one entity and thus must separate them. Rainbow's aspirations to become a Wonderbolt are obvious an' aren't the only things that define her as she discovers she enjoys reading. Fluttershy's had solo episodes that show how stressed out she gets when she's out of her element and how often that is, as well as how hard that hits those around her. Twilight's...well, Twilight. But, once again, AJ doesn't have that.

She's been trapped in a vacuum her entire existence, where she doesn't struggle with other characters for very long or make a decision that involves what _only_ she wants. I'm just going to say it: One of my favorite ponies is probably the blandest pony among the Mane 6. I'm gonna get flak for that, but think about it. When does she have solo time, time to think, time to contemplate what _she_ wants and not what benefits others? She doesn't. That's my issue with AJ: she hasn't had a solo episode where she doesn't bounce off of other characters to form this picture. Yes, we need others to help define ourselves, it's what social creatures do, but with her she just never makes a decision that seems to be her own or original.

AJ rant _aside_ , the other thing is Fluttershy in this chapter. I made Fluttershy attack others, which is apparently a big no-no in the fanbase, but the truth is that a mother's gonna kill anything that she deems a threat to her baby. If your friends, basically your family, are in danger...nothing will stop you from saving them. Not much else to say so (As Always: thanks for bein' here, R&R, _please review_ , no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)


	12. Ultimate Omnoms Noms

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! This is hopefully going to be a Rainbow (and/or) Pinkie chapter and I know that I'm avoiding the main plot, but...I'm not ready to tackle the center plot. As these next few chapters are going on, understand that Twilight and Cauldron are going on small date(s) and the other characters are progressing as well. Again, this chapter might feel a bit weird to read with how suddenly I got this idea. Also, references will either be made or incorporated into the story or both!

Pinkie: Yeah, Rainbow Dash chapter!

Calm yourself, Pinkie.

Pinkie: No.

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Staring at the devastation Fluttershy had caused as well as what she was experiencing with wide eyes, Rainbow lowered herself and her fearfully-staring-at-Fluttershy passengers. Lowering them to the ground slowly, Rainbow eventually made her way to her sister-figure's side with great caution. "How are you feeling, sis?" Rainbow asked quietly.

Between whimpers and shudders, Fluttershy uttered, "Like an abomination..." Her words made Rainbow's heart sink, remembering how long moments like these lasted and how badly situations like this hurt both pegasi. "Like the very abomination that the townsfolk kept calling me." The blue Thestral laid herself down next to Fluttershy, placing her bat-like wing over the larger-winged mare in a comforting gesture, getting Fluttershy to flinch slightly at the contact. The two of them stayed like that, the weather having cleared to reveal it was a beautiful spring day with the sun cascading through the leaves and clouds over them both. Fluttershy nickered weakly, receiving a gentle nicker in response from her little sister-figure that eased her worries enough for her to lift her head and wrap her arms and wings around her friend. She didn't say anything, merely crying into Rainbow's coat as said mare held her close, and neither did the mare she was crying into.

A sigh left Rainbow as she whispered into Fluttershy's ear, "I've given you the honey..." The yellow mare's eyes widened in fear, fully aware of what was coming next, before she found Rainbow's fangs gripping her ear as she was roughly pulled into the house. "And here's the hachet!" Rainbow said through grit teeth, taking her older sister-figure quietly into the bedroom to behold the infants. Spitting out Fluttershy's ear, Rainbow sternly whispered, "You're not an abomination, Shy! You're a mother, a friend, a veterinarian-in-training and Gilda's and my friend. Don't you ever call yourself an abomination. _Ever!_ If you do then you're calling your daughter an abomination too, and you and I both know that's not what you mean or want!"

Fluttershy's eyes were wide at Rainbow's assertiveness and uplifting words, finding herself in a fierce hug from Rainbow and a suddenly-there Pinkie Pie and Applejack. The moment, although touching, was ruined by the fact that Fluttershy was starting to suffocate from how fiercely she was being hugged by the three girls. Suddenly, an awake Scootaloo and Tank joined in on the hug-fest, getting Fluttershy to break the group hug to pick up and nuzzle her darling daughter.

With a smile and a piggybacking of Tank, Rainbow left the mother and daughter to hug each other while removing Pinkie and AJ from the bedroom as well. _Whew, hopefully she'll feel better in a few minutes. Meanwhile, I should probably get something to eat..._ Strolling into the kitchen, she found an assortment of naturally grown ingredients, spices and herbs from around in the grove Fluttershy's cottage was in. _What to eat?_ The sound of creaking wood made her turn to see the tall earth pony from earlier. "Hi." Rainbow said plainly, not exactly sure what to expect from the mare before her, extending a paw to shake hooves with her.

"Howdy," The scarred mare said, hesitantly shaking with her. "Ah'm Applejack. We 'aven't been properly introduced. What's yer name?"

Rainbow, large ears folded back awkwardly at social interaction with the first earth pony she'd encountered besides Posey, decided to put her best paw forward. "I'm Rainbow Dash. Are you a friend of Fluttershy's or Pinkie's?" She took note of the way Applejack's ears folded uncomfortably at being assumed as one of Fluttershy's or Pinkie's friends. _A stranger, then?_ Rainbow thought quietly.

"Eh, kinda..." Applejack scuffed the floor with her hoof, ears flat under the piercing gaze of those magenta, oval-pupiled eyes.

Eyes narrowing suspiciously, Rainbow stepped forwardly imposingly, her average height not preventing her from appearing menacing as she rose to her hindlegs to lean against Applejack. "What do you mean, 'kinda'? You either are or you aren't." Her words seemed to strike a nerve with the farm-smelling mare.

"Are ya'll tryin' ta make an enemy'o me, filly? 'Cause if ya are, yer in for a nasty surprise." Saying that, Applejack took notice of the broken, white horn held on a thick string around Rainbow's neck. "What's the story on the horn 'round yer neck?"

A look of pride came across Rainbow's face before Pinkie came in and dragged AJ out of the cottage, preventing the Thestral from bragging about how she'd acquired the trinket. "I guess...I'll tell somepony else, later." _Eh, whatever. She's not cool enough to hear my awesome story right now. Besides, I need to find something to eat for lunch._ She thought this with a grin on her face before she stared blankly at the cupboards and pantry full of food she didn't know if she wanted to eat. _What do I wanna eat?_ Crawling off of her back, Tank climbed in to investigate the treasures within the pantry much to Rainbow's disapproval. "Tank, don't go crawling around inside Fluttershy's cupboards. That's rude!" Her words fell on deaf ears, the cockatrice chick rummaging through the boxes and bags of different foods that a pony could prepare within an hour or less until he came across a plank of wood acting as a false wall. He clucked to his guardian, his gaze meeting hers as he looked down to her from the top shelf in the pantry. "What?" Rainbow asked, turning to look behind her in case Fluttershy came down and found her chick was being nosy with her food stuffs. "Did you find something to eat?" Asking that, she fluttered up to the tree branches above her to hang upside down with her body held close to the ceiling. (A/N: Think of a cat laying with its paws underneath its body, only in this scenario it's Rainbow Dash upside down.)

Tank shook his head, pulling the small plank of wood aside he'd mistaken for a wall to reveal a small wooden box. A series of soft, muffled yelps left the young cockatrice in a curious tone that Rainbow recognized as a question, curiosity getting him to pick up and turn the small cube around in his talons with a pensive look in his eyes. Asking another time, this time more insistently with his head turned to her, Rainbow realized he was asking her if he could or _should_ open it.

She bit her bottom lip and let her eyes wander for a moment. _If he opens this then we're invading Shy's privacy and she could stumble onto us. But, she might stay in her room cuddling Scootaloo and we could figure out why Gilda left so suddenly..._ A simple nod to Tank's non-Equish question was all the chick needed to begin prying it open, his eyes full of curiosity and his peak stabbing at the keyhole. Some minutes passed, Rainbow's patience waning before Tank sank his talons as deep into the keyhole and began wriggling them around as best he could, the tip of each talon reaching in and hitting the hammers inside which triggered little ticks to be heard as they ironically locked into place. As he did this, the auricular feathers over his ears looking like those of a horned owl as they moved with the muscles beneath his skin tensing with concentration. Suddenly, the lock clicked one final time and the box's lid opened. "Nice job, Tank!" Rainbow praised, getting the turkey-like cockatrice chick to chirp in gratitude for the words of pride before his guardian took the box from him and flipped back onto the floor to figure out what was inside. While she did that, he made his way onto the branches above and began lounging, taking a nap.

Inside was an assortment of papers, some of them written in Equish, others in Gryphonian, but all of them seemed to pertain to a certain set of circumstances if their concurrent dates and apprehensive air around them. "'December thirty-first. Missus Fluttershy, we regret to inform you that your mother, Posey, has met her untimely end. She was found at the bottom of a cliff, having appeared to have commit suicide with a note addressed to you pertaining to your marriage with somepony named'-"

"'Gilda'." Came Fluttershy's voice from behind the reading mare, getting Rainbow Dash to jump and flip to hang upside down with a feral hiss, the sound abruptly awaking Tank. The owner of the cottage didn't say anything and merely stared at her little sister-figure silently, her face unreadable and her eyes devoid of any emotion. She came up to the box and fallen paper, reading them aloud for Rainbow to hear. "'The note is attached to this letter. Our condolences, Cloudsdale's Earth Pony Sect.'" Fluttershy then began reading the note addressed to her from her mother, "'My darling Fluttershy: Although I will never stop loving you and I've no room to speak when concerning crossbred marriage, I cannot live knowing you're making the same mistake I did. What's worse is that you _married_ a female, meaning you'll be ostracized even worse than I was and am. I won't ask you to change, as you're perfect the way you are and nothing you do will ever change that, but I can't live with myself with the knowledge that I didn't raise you to chose your spouse better...With all the love in the world and beyond; Your mother, Posey Shy.'"

Rainbow's eyes were wide with shock, not only at her big sister-figure's married status with Gilda but also at the fact that Posey-the nicest and first earth pony she'd ever met-had committed suicide over something that made no sense to her. Ever since Rainbow was a filly, she'd never concerned herself with the sexual preferences or sexualities of others as it didn't matter to her, what mattered was the individual. To find out that Posey had leaped off of a cliff because she didn't agree with her daughter's choice of spouse was mind-boggling and crazy! But Fluttershy didn't stop there, she kept reading letters and notes sent to her that she'd stashed in the box, her tone remaining flat and emotionless but with how she kept reading it was obvious that she was angry with Rainbow, her continuing to read seeming spiteful and accusatory. It was like she was screaming at her for not asking first, like she was shouting, 'YOU WANTED TO KNOW AND NOW YOU KNOW'.

Some of the letters were condolences for her loss while others were death threats and a few were even legal documents finalizing the disowning of Fluttershy from certain branches of her family tree. A few of the letters were from some of their old classmates, Dumbbell, Score and Hoops. All three of them had made profuse, heartfelt apologies for having made fun of her over the years and sending their condolences to her for her loss, offering her any help they could off during her times of trouble. Heartfelt letters from their teacher, Rainbow Blaze, and her parents brought tears to Rainbow's eyes. The second letter from last came from Fluttershy's ex-marefriend, Vapor Trail, but it wasn't anything that hadn't been heard before except for being given congratulations on getting married.

Finally, after more than a few more letters addressed to her, Fluttershy came across the last letter in the box sent to her. "'Missus Fluttershy: We, here at the Cloudsdale Firefighter's Unit, regret to inform you that your father, Sundrop, has passed. After the death of your mother, he began spiraling downwards and wasn't going to come back up. He died in the hospital, an emergency crew having come to his aid at the request of an attendant at the Shimmering Stars Bar after he was taken down in a bar fight he'd found himself in whilst drunk. His will be a loss most great to the Firefighter's Unit, as both a field operative and a friend to all those on the force. We send our condolences and love to you, your wife and child as you had always brought love into the lives of those working at the station. With deepest condolences; the ponies in the Cloudsdale Firefighter's Unit.'"

Eyes seeping with tears that trailed her face, Rainbow tackled her big sister-figure and hugged her close, the hug being stiffly acknowledged-yet-not-accepted-or-reciprocated by Gilda's wife. "I'm so sorry, Big Sis! I'm so sorry..." Rainbow repeated over and over, her chick coming up behind her and hugging the yellow mare cautiously. Fluttershy, although not rejecting of the hug with tears streaming down her face's hydrophobic fur, pushed her little sister-figure away silently, the atmosphere around her that of an angry, wounded mare who wanted none of it. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..." Came Rainbow's sobs, the normally compassionate mare before her making no move to accept the apology or comfort the crying Thestral.

"I'll be in my room." Fluttershy quietly clipped, making her way back into her bedroom to her baby, the sounds of crying coming from the room up the stairs. Rainbow did nothing, eyes wide and tear filled, as she crumpled in on herself and accepted a hug from Tank. Flipping to hang from the branches in the ceiling, Rainbow hugged Tank close, afraid to lose anyone close after learning everything that Fluttershy had lost.

 **Hours later**

A knock at the front door awoke Rainbow and Tank from a mandatory nap session, Rainbow's snores being interrupted by what sounded like a cleft hoof. Flipping onto the ground with Tank being lightly tossed and caught on Rainbow's back, she made her way to the front door to find herself face to face with a tall, magical elk. It was a stag if his large, sickle-like antlers were any indication. Both antlers had curved spikes on the outside of the crescent moon-shaped inside of the ornamental defense weapons, with a strange, red orb floating in between the two weapons of self-defense the elk had atop his head. The sphere above its head seemed to resemble a blood soaked moon, the size being a third of that of a hoofball and its reflective surface nearly blinding Rainbow with the setting sunlight bouncing off of it.

His head, upper back, chest and stomach were a butcher blood-red that somehow meshed will with the bright yellow eyes of the stag before her. Going down his spine were spikes that started from the center of his forehead and ended at his tail bone, just before his small fluff of cotton-white fur. The rest of his body was a coal black, his eyes seeming menacing with the rest of his body adding onto his intimidating stature. " **Greetings, Thestral,** " The stag began easily, his use of Rainbow's word for Batponies getting her large, bat-like ears to perk up. " **Where is the one known as Fluttershy?** "

"She's inside, but what's it to you?" Rainbow asked suspiciously, receiving a blast of hot gas to the face from the stag's nostrils that made her back off and cough, the gas he'd exhaled being full of soot and ash.

" **The one known as Fluttershy is the one who has made a pact with the ESPers of, within and around the Everfree Forest.** " The stag said firmly, his voice very heavy with age, his mouth full of sharp, circular teeth that formed into a strange, almost malignant smile. " **And I must have someone help me complete my lunar cycle like that rock farmer did years ago...** "

"I'm here, Elgar." Fluttershy said quietly, reaching the claw of her wing into the orb above his now bowed head, pulling out an odd, egg-shaped object with facial features similar to those of a simian. She attached it to a string and hung it from his left antler, apologetically saying, "It is done. Normally I'd offer you a meal, but right now I'd prefer it if you please leave. I'm not exactly in the mood for entertaining more than one guest at the moment..."

Elgar nodded, leaving the cottage silently before prancing off into the forest without another word or a look back. "What the hay was all that about?" Rainbow asked, dumbfounded at how anticlimactic the completion of his cycle was.

"The Elgar, a species of ESPer, are the creators of Behelit, that egg-like object I pulled out of his Lunar Orb, which help create a place between the physical world and the Astral World. Behelit are used by those predestined to own them to become beings known as daemons, creatures much like us but far stranger. But," Fluttershy sighed the last word sadly, going up the stairs to rest with her foal. "That's none of your business." When she finished speaking, she made eye contact with Rainbow that told the blue mare not to look too deeply into this.

Rainbow bowed her head silently before heading out to eat something, feeling it inappropriate to eat in the place where her big sis was feeling unhappy with her. With Tank hanging onto her back, she climbed on top of the cottage's chimney stack and leaped off of it, spreading out her wings and gliding along until she caught onto an updraft. As she gained altitude, the sun was already set and she could let her dark-sight take effect. Below her passed trees, animals and the rare stratus cloud as she soared before the full moon with its rays cascading over Tank and herself. _Here, in my element-the night-I'm safe..._ That thought, that uplifting, calming thought got her to do an Aileron Roll, Tank holding on by tightening his grip on her shoulders and back. _I'm free here, underneath the Mare in the Moon's gaze! I could spend eternity underneath her..._ She thought with a gentle smile, the thought of an eternity with the Mare in the Moon watching over her seeming pretty nice.

Tank clucked hungrily, lightly nipping at her mane to remind her that they needed to eat. She nodded silently, turning towards Ponyville, specifically towards Sweet Apple Acres where she'd found the enormous chess board that Pinkie and Fluttershy used. Quietly flapping her wings over town, careful not to wake anypony, she made her way towards the second best foraging ground near the Everfree's edge with the first being the grove Fluttershy's cottage resided in. Slowly coming to land, she flapped her wings as she stopped a fair distance away from the chess board as she knew it wouldn't have any prey nearby from previous experience on their nightly escapades for food.

"Okay, Tank," Rainbow said as she landed, lowering her wing for said chick to walk down. "You wait in that tree we chose and I'll gather the bait." He nodded in acknowledgement, climbing into the nearby orange tree the Apple family for whatever reason had and waiting patiently for his guardian to collect the bait needed to catch appropriate prey. As he did that, Rainbow began digging up worms and a couple moles while she was at it, one of the moles she passed to Tank as an appetizer he could toy with before eating while she stared at the traumatized animal in her clawed paw. _What's this feeling in my jaw?_ She wondered absently, noticing that her fanged mouth was opening wide. _Shouldn't I feel bad about killing these animals?_ Her thoughts were in the back of her mind, nowhere near her fangs or her instincts at the moment as she sank her sharp teeth into the mole's underside.

Although she'd killed it, she didn't pull her mouth away as she began chewing the chunk of mole she had in her mouth. The sounds of bones crunching under the power of her jaws didn't make her stomach churn as it should've, the feeling of blood seeping into her mouth and down her throat not getting her to gag like it would've were she a normal pegasus. Placing the deceased mole in between her paws on the ground, she pulled away with the chunk in her mouth, chewing it a bit longer before swallowing and beginning again on the rest of it. She wasn't even sure of what she was doing, the feeling of eating flesh coming as second nature in this moment underneath the Mare in the Moon's gaze, all parts of her body feeling invigorated by the sensation of flesh entering her stomach.

Another ten bites, another ten admittances to what she was in this moment, another ten goodbyes to her old self. _Why was I weird about eating this mole, again?_ She asked herself absently, swallowing what was in her mouth and sniffing around for anything left over before her large ears picked up small squeaks from the hole she'd dug with her paw, getting her to sniff at it quietly and finding what she was looking for. _Mole pups!_ Without a second thought, she began digging into the dirt again, her paw dirtying itself with the blood left on her claws and the guilt that would overtake her later. The mole pups, born even more blind than their parents as infants like all creatures, could do nothing but accept their fate as Rainbow dug them out and tossed them into the air over her open mouth like they were popcorn before snapping her mouth shut suddenly. _WHAT THE FUCK AM I DOING?! I should be sharing these with Tank, not hogging them all to myself!_ Thinking this, she grabbed one of the mole pups that had weakly bounced off of her shut mouth and did the same thing as before, catching it in her mouth and chewing it with a smile as its life was forgotten by the vast expanse of the universe.

She whistled, catching Tank's attention as he finished eating the other parent mole before he saw what his guardian had at her paws and dashed over, excited to eat something with her like he'd wanted since she started taking care of him. He came up to her side, a talon extended to grab one before it was batted away by his winged guardian who shook a claw at him with a 'tut tut'.

"What do we say?" Rainbow asked knowingly, getting Tank to clap his talons together with a cluck and a purr in the back of his fur. "Very good." Saying that, Rainbow tossed the two remaining mole pups into the air, one being captured in Tank's beak before he placed it on the ground and began tearing into it while the other went to the drunkenly smiling Rainbow Dash. Chewing and swallowing her food with a lip of the lips, she looked to the moon, a shimmer overtaking her narrowing-to-slit eyes as she chuckled a laugh of blood-drunkenness. _Tonight's going to be a good night!_

 **Two hundred thirty-eight thousand nine hundred miles away, within a fortress made of anorthosite and basalt**

Large, bird-like wings opened in ecstasy as a fanged, void-black alicorn mare smiles grimly. " **Ah _yes!_ That's it, our children, eat thy fill. Grow stronger so that thy brethren and sistren here with us might feel the brilliance of the Equestrian soil beneath thy hooves and paws!** " Said the alicorn, a clearing of the throat directing her attention to the shadowy Nyx at her throne room door. " **Yes, Shadowfright, what is it?** " She asked simply, politely.

"The rest of council await you, M'lady Moon." He says, bowing as she passes him. Noticing her blank face and sad eyes, he queried, "Is everything alright, M'lady Moon?"

She nodded slowly, sighing. " **Yes, Shadowfright, tis just that We wish our children might be able to touch the Earth below them. Although they art content, they know no other life and We wish that they might know another life than this one...** " They strolled down the hallway together, comfortable silence between them as the Nyx beside her thought on his monarch's words.

After a short while, he did respond. "I see. It must be difficult, being unable to return to Equestria and have to watch as the ponies and other creatures you brought here not know the life you had envisioned for them. But, if I might be so bold, wouldn't it be best that they not know the life you envisioned?"

His query made her stop, a thoughtful air about her as her blue, stardust mane shimmered in the torches around them. " **If thou'd be so kind to explain We might understand thy thinking, Shadowfright.** "

"You'd envisioned for them a life much like Equestria's own, where they'd harvest the Zap Apples when ripe and live amongst each other in a picturesque world without war but..." He faltered, looking for the right words. "What if it should be they to create a life better than the one you'd envisioned? Better than the one you'd drawn out from the blueprint Celestia had left? Should it not be the work of your subjects, your children, to create a world you might call your own, devoid of Celestia's influence?"

The mare, silent in thought, turned to her subject and nodded. " **Thou art correct, Shadowfright. Our subjects should be the ones to fulfill our vision, making greatness out of Celestia's mediocrity. We thank thou for thy contribution to the Moon.** " Saying that, she lowered the joint of her feathered, bat-like wing over his shoulder thankfully, the gesture getting him to bow humbly.

"I serve only to please, M'lady Moon." He said, the two of them continuing to the council. "I believe the Moon Ponies are growing nervous, M'lady."

Hearing that, the mare looked to him curiously. " **Why is this so?** "

"They believe you'll abandon them when the spell is lifted. I'm almost positive we all hold this fear somewhere in our hearts, but they fear it the most."

" **We shall placate their fears, as we shan't abandon our children for a land that doth not want us.** "

Entering a room with a glowing table at its center, the pair were met by a congregation of six individuals. "You truly are the greatest ruler for this world, M'lady Moon."

 **With Rainbow**

She had finished feeding Tank, said chick having been taken back to the cottage to rest, but she was still hungry. Flying back to Sweet Apple Acres, she began eating whatever she could find be it meat, herb, fruit or vegetable. She kept eating as if she were trying to fatten herself up for winter, although that was months away, and she didn't feel compelled to question it.

Eventually, the Mare in the Moon began to hang directly above her, getting her eyes to shimmer as she opened up her wings to the glowing eyes of the one she beheld. _Mother, accept my offering to my brothers and sisters so that they might enjoy the happiness Equestria owes them..._ After a while, the Mare in the Moon's eyes ceased to glow, and Rainbow was left in a drunken haze as she began flying back to Fluttershy's cottage for a well-deserved nap. _Why the Hell did I eat moles?!_ She demanded herself, body so tired she couldn't express her feeling of sickness externally. _That's disgusting!...At least I'll be able to feed Tank after we're finished napping._

Thinking the last part tiredly, she arrived at the cottage to find it was locked, getting her to groan before she found a barely-opened window into the living room. _Good thing Shy remembered to leave a window for me otherwise I'd be out here all night._ She thought, a tired look on her face as she pried the window open and climbed in, closing the window behind her quietly as she made her way over to a sleeping-in-the-rafters-made-of-tree-branches Tank. _Aww, he's so cute when he's sleeping._ With that thought, she yawned and flipped to hang from those same rafters, wrapping herself in her wings comfortably. "Sleep tight...Tank..." Rainbow muttered tiredly, drifting off to sleep soon after, snoring being the only muffled sound audible outside of her wing-'cocoon'.

Unknown to her, a certain yellow pegasus had seen Rainbow's little escapade. _Someone's going to do some explaining tomorrow..._ Fluttershy thought sternly, yawning tiredly. Today had been an enlightening day, to say the least.

 **A few hours later**

Tank repeatedly, lightly poked Rainbow's claws from his place above her, getting her to groan between snores. He chirped to himself, contemplating a way to wake up his guardian without making her mad. Stroking the bottom jaw of his beak, he suddenly snapped his talons together as an idea came to mind. Without a second thought, he began jumping on the branch his guardian hung from, the branch's sturdiness holding as he made the limb holding up his guardian shake and quiver. Meanwhile, Fluttershy was just watching while Scootaloo nursed from her with a blanket over her hindquarters to keep up some semblance of decency.

"This will end well-yow! Not so hard, Scootaloo..." She said, addressing her daughter who came out from under the blanket to stare at her playmate curiously. Spreading her wings and flapping them excitedly, she began to propel herself forward, her little legs trying to keep up with her body which caused her to trip and stumble into the wood of the couch. Her scared, wounded neigh got Fluttershy to come to her baby's aid while Tank lost concentration and fell from his branch, getting his guardian's big sister to extend her large wing and cushion his fall as she tended to her baby. "It's okay, sweetie. You're okay. You're okay..." She cooed to the whimpering Scootaloo whose head was obvious aching if the small dent in the couch's wood was anything to go by, her efforts receiving a relaxed foal to start nickering for closeness that her mother gave her.

A blow from Rainbow onto Tank's head got him to look up from his 'aunt's interactions with his playmate, finding his guardian's large magenta eyes were glued to him with bags under her eyes as she opened her mouth in a way he recognized as an invitation for breakfast. Sticking his beak softly into her mouth and onward, he opened his mouth slightly as his sticking of his beak had reached her throat and triggered her gag reflex, allowing him to began feasting on the remains of Rainbow's meal last night. After she stopped retching up dead moles and edible vegetation, she groaned as she lowered herself to the floor, strolling tiredly outside to drink from the creek in the grove Fluttershy's cottage was nestled in.

"Ugh, I feel like utter shit..." Rainbow groaned to herself, taking a fair amount of time to drink from the creek before pulling away with a greedy gasp for air. Coming up to her side, Tank sniffed her paws curiously before licking off what little blood remained, getting her to shoo him away from her paws. "What's going on, Tank?" She asked, getting the chick to chirp at her plainly in a way she understood as boredom. "If you want to play, you could play with Scootaloo-"

"I'm sorry but Scootaloo's eating, Rainbow. You're going to have to play with your son if you want to keep him happy..." Fluttershy interrupted, her voice reaching the pair as they made their way inside and her use of the word 'son' made her friend blush, looking to the chick in shock. Silence answered the mother before she heard Rainbow say something about playing with Tank and how it might alleviate her shitty-feeling. "Oh, Rainbow," Fluttershy began, stopping the Thestral in her tracks with how disappointed she sounded. "We're going to talk about your escapades over the last few days, specifically last night's."

The way she left it hanging there told Rainbow that she wasn't happy with her little sister, getting the blue mare to tense nervously. _Crap!_ Rainbow thought, going out with her 'son' to play a few simple games. First on the mental checklist of games Rainbow had was a simple game of chase, Tank trying to catch a trotting Rainbow and a trotting Rainbow doing her best to catch the small, elusive chick. The game lasted an unknown amount of time with Rainbow having the most trouble catching her son, having decided to be nice and play fair by not flying, resulting in Tank evading capture by dashing under and into bushes as well as through the garden.

"I'm going to catch you, Tank!" Rainbow proclaimed, getting said chick to yelp excitedly and hide within the cabbage patch in the grove. "Ha, gotcha cornered, you little scamp." Saying that, she found a small head of cabbage flying at her head which she caught in her mouth and ate with gusto. The area around them seemed to darken slightly, their field of vision having decreased to being only horizontal with bars of haze forming at the top and bottom of their peripheral vision. Music was audible thanks to Pinkie and Applejack who'd come across the event on a small visit to Fluttershy's cottage, the tune being very anticipatory and rising like an Apple Loosan standoff at high noon.

Tank, taking to the music with expertise, rose onto his hind legs with a straw in his beak that allowed him to close his mouth and leak out the gas from inside of his pouch. In the grasp of his talons were two small cabbage heads, his gaze meeting his guardian's as Pinkie tossed Apple Jack's stetson onto his head, adding onto the aesthetic that Pinkie was trying to create as AJ called out, "It's high noon!" Hearing that, Tank started throwing cabbage heads like the act was going out of style, causing Rainbow to start dodging like crazy as his aim was pretty good for such a little guy.

"Crap crap crap crap crap!" Rainbow said, heads of cabbage crashing every which way she moved for a good minute with a few of them landing on her before Tank ceased, worn out from all of the effort. Striding to the fallen-to-his knees Tank, she smiled proudly before taking off into the air and saying, "Fire in the hole!" Finished speaking, she flew towards her chick before rolling herself into an electric ball of damage that landed a few meters away from Tank and zeroed in on him. His eyes widened in shock, both literal and metaphorical, as Rainbow tackled him and zapped him enough to stun him, resulting in him falling unconscious.

Fluttershy, with Scootaloo striding along beside her, came up to the unconscious cockatrice chick with a magically-charging paw on his chest as she whispered into his ear, "Heroes never die."

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! This...was an interesting chapter, to say the least. It was kinda disjointed at first and its a little too reference-y for some people's taste, but it's fun. Rainbow chapters are fun to write, I've noticed, 'cause I'm allowed to limit how much shit makes total sense as she's an athlete an' a go-with-the-flow-until-you-fuck-with-me kinda gal. She doesn't ask how things work too much or at all 'cause she doesn't care so long as she benefits from it, that's gonna bite her in the ass later, but not right now. With how she operates, I'm not as limited with what I can do or get away with 'cause she won't find it too weird or frightening unless it goes against her morality.

My overuse of references was a little much but I enjoy the idea of video game mechanics being a part of the world, like in the Resident Evil games how the typewriters are how you save or how the grinding and mixing of herbs heals different status effects. So, I enjoy making video game references that are not only able to be caught but also believable. That's why I made it so Tank was using cabbages and not a gun, why AJ's hat was used and a straw instead of a cigarette so he could let his paralysis gas leak out in a manner similar to smoke. Rainbow's daredevil nature is similar to Junkrat, so I used his Ultimate as Rainbow's attack. I'll bring up this point later, but the ultimate is a one-minute burst of your entire power focused into one attack which all of us have and the accumulation of a magical creature's power focused into one attack is very much based around one's personality and personal combat style.

Tank's a child an' was just improvising with random shit at claw, the whole cowboy motif was all AJ and Pinkie's doing, that's why his Ultimate doesn't really match him: it's cause he hasn't developed enough to have a personal combat style. Now, Rainbow's carnivorous spree the night before's due to Nightmare Moon's influence. I always saw the Nightmare as a form of parasite that amplifies certain emotions and morphs its host into a shape more fitting of those emotions. In canon, Nightmare Moon's a tall, elegant and intimidating mare much like Celestia probably was a thousand years pre-canon which has always made me curious of what that says about Luna before and after Nightmare's inside of her. As we see in canon, she's not very tall, elegant-seeming or as intimidating as her older sister which could be why she appeared that way as Nightmare Moon. It was envy of what Celestia had that she didn't: the public's adoration, the grace, figure and imposing nature her sister had.

Until the comics came around, no one really questioned it until a while after Nightmare Moon had been forgotten, and then we saw that Nightmare Rarity's much like Nightmare Moon sans wings and other alicorn qualities. However, writing this chapter, I started thinking about what Luna's like as Nightmare Moon and how much I like fucking the line between good and evil in stories. In canon, Nightmare Moon's bland as fuck: loud, boisterous, arrogant, unable to come up with a solid reason they're evil besides something that seems petty outside of context and no redeeming factors at all! I love-let me repeat that- _love_ good villains! If you have an awesome hero, than they need an awesome nemesis and an equally awesome/understandable reason for being evil.

Good villains are _still people!_ The Joker, for example, in The Killing Joke was a relatable madman we all empathized with because his backstory was heart-wrenching and engaging, allowing us to get attached to the one we're watching before he turned into the cackling sadist we all know, love and fear. He's one of the best villains 'cause his backstory's changed so many times in so many ways that they're all true and all-encompassing of his personality as a whole. With the latest iteration, no one fucking knows except him and even that's debatable as he's gone so far off the deep end his origins are hard to pin down. He used several backstories while in Arkham Asylum to explain his reasons for how he is to Harley, and all of them can and are true in some sense!

 _That my friends and foes, is an amazing villain!_ Let's look back to Nightmare Moon and...*Facepalms pityingly, looking up into the stars with sad tears in my eyes* This is pathetic! I enjoy the show a lot, I'm not ashamed of this, but as a villain and as a _character_...Nightmare Moon's the blandest cookie around! Her one redeeming factor's that she's able to change from host body to host body and can bring out their darkest selves to light like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but even that's spoiled by her _lack of personality!_ *Inhales deeply, backing up to gather my thoughts*

Okay, that's a little harsh, but she needs a serious upgrade from Generic Super Villain #1 to Memorable and Beloved Antagonist We'll Miss #1. So, here's how I see Nightmare (The entity, not the possessed host) in my headcanon. The Nightmare's a lifeform that was made from gathering of emotions such as envy and grief from powerful beings, specifically the Royal Sister, and thus latched onto the one emitting the most envy and grief to take on a form that its host idolized and fantasized as her own. Nightmare Moon's a very dangerous, negative-spectrum mirror image of Celestia in both appearance and personality. Luna wanted nothing more than to be like her sister in so many ways, and Nightmare gave her those things she wanted. However, like any parasite, it doesn't change who you are but _how_.

Using a bit of the backstory to Children of the Night (LOVE THAT VID, WATCH IT NOW! 3), I came up with how Luna acts as Nightmare Moon. See, this is what people don't get about alternate personalities or alternate versions of yourself: it's _still you!_ With alternate personalities, it's just a fraction of a whole but emphasized to a point where it seems like an alternate individual altogether. With alternate versions of yourself, it's your personality but put into a different mold. Like chocolate chip cookie dough forced into different shape molds for cooking, the end result's still chocolate chip cookies but in different shapes!

When you're drunk or high, you're still you. Same goes for brainwashing or hypnosis. Slight tangent: brainwashing takes days, months and or _years_ to complete and afterwards it's the same person but with a different perspective like after you see a picture from a different angle for the rest of your life. Hypnosis doesn't change anything about you, it just suggests for you to do something that you _choose_ to do. I can't hypnotize any of you to murder your pet 'cause it goes against your morality, unless you kill cats in which case you're gonna die very, _very_ sad later.

Anyways, back on track: Luna's still Luna, but with a passenger increasing the power of certain emotions and causing her to think a certain way. She's resentful of her sister, that hasn't changed _at all_ and no amount of being struck with a rainbow laser will change that. All that laser will do is remove Nightmare from her nervous system, and even that's based on whether or not the bond between the Mane 6 is strong enough to break the bond Nightmare has with Luna. Luna's proud and passionate about the civilization she started on the moon, she always has been even as her sister gave her shit for it, and she spoils her subjects with her efforts to give them the choice to live either in Equestria or on the Moon.

She cares for her subjects, makes her best effort to help where she can and make sure the races on the Moon coexist properly. Celestia's not going to be getting a good rep from her baby sister, but whatevs. Luna's still Luna but with a passenger and she's a great, benevolent leader to those on the Moon. Oh, the whole carnivore-thing with Rainbow makes sense too. She's not against killing as much anymore and since Shining's horn (Which she still keeps around her neck, in case ya'll are wondering) transformed her into the hybridization of a pony and a random, most-likely-carnivorous species of mountain-dwelling bats. So, with her instincts to kill having been sharpened over a short period of time due to a weight on her shoulders and since the bats weren't specified/neither Shining's horn nor Rainbow knew what type of bats those were, Shining's horn basically magicked with Rainbow's wish to turn her into the amalgamation of a pony and an omnivorous bat.

Lots and lots of sudo-science that I can't explain right now, lest I spoil further plot. Suffice to say, Rainbow's omnivorous now and is just reacclimating to her own immune/nervous/organ/body system(s) as it's going "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THIS SHIT, DID YOU PUT SOMETHING YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE INTO ME AND WHY CAN'T I FIGURE OUT IF I SHOULD THROW THIS UP?!" Her brain says 'throw it up' and her stomach initially says 'throw it up' before it realizes that it doesn't mind the taste or feel of meat in itself. So, her innards are flipping right the fuck out, 'cause they don't know what to do with the meat they ingested. At the end of it all, she threw it up but not 'cause of the meat but 'cause she ate too fucking much for her body size. If you overeat too fast...it's not fun, and you throw it all up after a little over or under an hour. However, 'cause flying horses no doubt have large stomachs, they can eat a lot of food 'cause their metabolism's quite fast but Rainbow overdid it and gave the 'leftovers' to a very happy Tank.

Anyways, that's all for now an' so (As Always: Thanks for bein' here, _please review_ , R&R, no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism, and SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)


	13. Moonlit Confessions and Planning

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! Not entirely sure how much longer I can avoid the main plot or whose chapter this is, but we're gonna get a look into the history of Equestria one way or another. Pinkie's unconscious, hammered as Hell on moonshine, so I don't have to worry about her realizing anything's up.

Pinkie: *Mumbling in her sleep* Rainbow Dash...

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Sword clashes with sword, ally against ally and country versus society. The year was two thousand seven hundred twenty-eight, the war against Wrathful Pavise and his army had been going on for the past two decades, and our war council was anything but professional. Where once stood proud and ready warriors now laid five weakened and tired fools, all of us exhausted and waiting for the pain to stop. "If I were a few hundred years younger," Silverclaw groaned, not even his tail or angelic wings twitching from how much he hurt. "I'm pretty sure I'd have a bit more energy than this..."

A pained, feminine chuckle answered him before groaning. "Doesn't help that I've been keeping you up every night for the past six years~" The female who'd spoken was a dainty, felid human, her eyes a light mocha with red sclera and her skin a porcelain white much like her snow white hair and tail. Her figure, although small and dainty, had muscle where it counted and her size made her an expert infiltrator. "Maybe I should've stopped keeping you up after round ten, eh?"

"Oh," I growled, my large quadrupedal, saurian-like form resembling a dead beast of burden "Just shut up, Diamond Shiv...None of us want to hear about your creepy love for spiny, tomcat dick in your pussy-cunt!" My words got my big brother, Silverclaw, to weakly grab and toss a tissue box at my head, getting us both to groan in pain at the action from how worn out and beaten we were. "How many more materials are left on the list, Luna?" My question got the Thestral to look to me with a frown, glaring down at me from where she hung for her nap irritably at our groaning having woken her down.

Yawning, the midnight blue mare lowered herself to lay down on the wingless drake I had become over the millennium, getting me to groan as her knees pressed into my side. "We're not sure, Spike the Beaucephalis, how about thou check the list thou hath instead of laying here like a bump on a log that interrupts a Thestral's sleep. Honestly, that word is incredibly catchy. We must thank thou for thy advice, Lady Shiv!" Her tangent was met with my arrow-ended tail weakly thwacking her in the head which made me groan in pain while she hissed, baring her fangs at me, receiving the best threatening snarl I could muster.

Hand rubbing gently across my tender underbelly, magic flowing into the tips of my older twin sister's fingers to help ease my pain, the strain on my body from earlier fading away from my muscles. I looked to her and smiled gratefully. "Don't be an ass, Spike..." Hestia said, my smile vanishing as her silent cowbell-like hair ornaments swung from side to side as she turned her head to look into my eyes from her place against me, her ministrations ceasing as she returned to leaning against my vulnerable underbelly like we used to when we slept in the same crib as newborns.

I growled weakly, "I'm getting too old for this shit, sis. Why'd we agree to help fight in this war, again?" A dull knife was thrown at my back, bouncing off harmlessly as a result. "You know my scales are too thick for your knives to pierce my hide, Shiv." A hiss answered me, getting me to chuckle weakly at the gesture of my sister-in-law.

The sound of cleft hooves meeting blanketed snow brought our attention to the white unicorn with the cutie mark of a burning sun, the tuft at the end of her tail and her mane being hot pink. This was Celestia, a long and curved horn rising from the center of her forehead in a spiral, with a collar that doubled as an armored chest piece. The color of this collar was a brilliant gold, the pattern on it being waves of solar fires that was emphasized by the arrangement of glowing, fire-colored gems. Red, yellow, orange and bright blue rubies presenting themselves as the largest while rarer and darker colored gems were set closer around her throat. She strode over to the war table where the map and list were kept, reading off more of the materials we needed. "Phoenix eggshell, molten gems, heartless stone and to combine all of these materials in the stomach of a dragon capable of breathing fire."

(A/N: Weird transition coming up) Suddenly, the feeling of a piercing pain struck my stomach as I was jolted awake by a random pony kicking Spike in the belly, his eyes snapping open as he spilled his boiling lunch out onto the pony in question. _Wonderful,_ He thought sarcastically. _We're still at Cauldron's house!_ The screaming stallion that had struck the wyrmling was Cauldron's father, a lime green unicorn with a blue mane and a long, rodent-like tail instead of the graceful leonine tail unicorns were commonly known for. He had single-toed hooves and was rather pitiful to look at, his horn being a small stub and the way his hind legs kicked out randomly explained that he was prone to spasms.

Cauldron's mother wasn't anything out of the ordinary like her husband, her silver mane held back with a hairnet and her dark blue coat dappled with white every now and then. Her horn was about five inches long, her husband's being two inches, and her figure was a healthy bit of pudge alongside muscle. Oddly enough, her eyes were lemon yellow, an uncommon eye color for ponies. Twilight, using her magic to lessen her wyrmling's pain, quietly glared at the stallion who'd kicked Spike. She'd noticed how his legs would tense up before spazzing out, but when he kicked Spike there'd been no tensing. It had been on purpose.

"Sorry about that, Twilight." The stallion said, getting Twilight to smile chipperly which made Cauldron who'd been quietly low to the ground, back up in fear of what his date would do. "Guess my medication hasn't kicked in yet, haha!" His words got Twilight to chuckle in a friendly manner, making Cauldron's skin shiver as he recognized what was going on.

 _Uh oh..._ He thought, noticing that his mother had narrowed, disappointed eyes directed at him which made him lower himself to the floor even more. _I fucked up._ Not a second after that, his marefriend-as he'd come to think of her-finished chuckling.

"It's perfectly fine, Fumble," Twilight said smoothly, her words sounding genuine to the two parents and her eyes closed as she smiled, walking up to the married couple. "It's not like you tried and failed to kill my baby dragon by pretending to have leg spasms, is it? After all," She opened her eyes, hell being glared at the two bakers, making the couple freeze in fear as they felt her hatred for them engulf their entirety. "It's not like I've the power to kill you, bring you back to life as a pitiful excuse for a pony and kill you again only more cruelly, is it?" When she said that, Fumble Dough-Cauldron's father-fell to the floor as the magic Twilight exuded triggered a seizure.

When Fumble Dough fell to the ground, two things occurred. The first was that Cauldron's mother, Nutter Butter, punched Twilight in the face. The second thing was that Cauldron wrapped his seizing father in his magic, levitating him into the kitchen and placing a pillow under his head as he waited for the seizure to pass. However, what happened after that was something that Cauldron would never forget, the sight of his mother's head bursting through the wall engraving itself into his memory. Gulping, he quietly, cautiously, entered the living room where he found his marefriend sitting, entertaining Spike with silly faces. "Twilight," Cauldron began carefully, Fumble's shudders fading as the seizure faded in the background, receiving a hum of acknowledgement. "Everything alright?"

Twilight turned to him slowly, his immediate reaction being to flinch back in fear of getting struck for questioning her, revealing a sad look on her face as she levitated her coltfriend closer so she could hug him for comfort. "Uh uh." She muttered, head on his shoulder and arms around his neck, the sounds of shaky breathing reaching his ears as well as her words.

Deciding to be a good coltfriend, he laid his body down so he was level with her and placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder as he held her close. "Anything I can do to make it better?" He asked simply, closing his eyes as he relished in the contact with the mare of his dreams and feeling her heartache at having 'put' her whelp in danger. A shake of the head no told him all he needed, his response being a heavy sigh. "Well, if it makes you feel any better, they had it coming before I introduced you to them. They wanted a successor to their baking, not a child, after all..." Saying that, he nuzzled the side of her head and inhaled her scent, memorizing it for its reminiscence of lavender and inked paper.

She made no move to respond, the light bulb above them flickering and going out as their solar panels disconnected again, getting Cauldron to moan in annoyance. Muttering something incomprehensible to Twilight's ears, the light began flicker weakly back to a half-life as his eyes glowed with power unknown to the mare in his embrace, a tear trickling down his cheek at his marefriend seeing his parents as he did. "I'm so sorry..." Twilight whispered into his ear, eyes hidden behind her bangs as she tried to imagine the pain of being kept under the watchful eyes of such unkind parents.

Minutes before she'd come to the house, she'd heard Cauldron get a loud tongue lashing from both Fumble Dough and Nutter Butter, her heart sinking with every word they spoke afterwards. When they let her in, she'd seen their angry glares to not only herself but her whelp and date as well. "It's not your fault, Twilight." As she said that, they heard his mother groan back to consciousness.

"Ugh," Nutter said, pulling her head out of the wall. "I ought to-"

"What?" Cauldron asked, not looking to his mother as he had a more important mare to pay attention to. "What will you do? Push her farther over the edge than Jumble did?" His words made her flinch, not even needing to turn around to know her eyes were boring holes into his skull, his ears folded back in guilt and shame of what he'd done.

The sound of a groaning Fumble made Nutter enter the kitchen and tend to her husband, leaving the duo alone with Spike nestling himself against the stallion's chest alongside his caretaker. Speaking of her, Twilight's ears turning left and right as she heard the married couple muttering in the kitchen. Cauldron also seemed to hear them too, his ears twitching before folding back again. "They're angry..." Twilight muttered into his ear, getting him to nod. "Let's go meet my family, hmm?"

Simply nodding, the sounds of arguing over what to do reaching them, Cauldron rose and levitated the two of them onto his back. Without saying a thing, he closed the door quietly and the light exploded on itself. Outside, Nutter's cries could be heard, "WHY'D HE HAVE TO SURVIVE INSTEAD OF JUMBLE!" Hearing that, Cauldron's head lowered and his ears folded back with guilt at disappointing his family again.

"They don't mean his suicide, do they?" Twilight asked, getting a guilty-looking Cauldron to nod silently. She remained quiet after that, trying to figure out how to cheer her date up. "Well, good news is we don't have to worry about them anymore..." He nodded again, his chest feeling hollow and dead, the only comfort being his marefriend's presence and her touch. "At least my family's accepting enough to like you. I've had trouble shutting about anypony else at dinner, except when Rarity came over because I didn't want her to tease me..."

"Svern bikil!" Spike whispered in Twilight's ear, getting her to perk up.

"Hey, Crumble!" Twilight said excitedly, receiving a curious hum. "Did you see Up-dog?" Her excited question got her coltfriend to turn his gaze to her, a single eyebrow risen in confusion.

Oblivious to what was to come, he asked, "What?"

"Up-dog!" Came his marefriend's chipper response. "Come on, everypony knows Up-dog."

"What's up-dog?" And like that, lightning struck through his brain. He once more bowed his head, getting Twilight and Spike to look to him worriedly before they heard and felt his chuckling. It started off small but grew until he was busting a gut on the ground beneath them, getting the other two to sprain their lungs in turn as they fell off of his back and to his side. "THAT'S AMAZING!" He said, taking several deep breaths before turning his eyes to his date, placing a tender and adoring hoof on her scarred cheek with his cerulean orbs transfixed on every aspect of the mare before him. " _You_ are amazing..." Crumble whispered, Twilight's immediate response being to blush before he claimed her lips as his prize, her eyes opening wide with her face turning as red as a tomato before she too succumbed to the moment and returned the kiss.

"Ahem!" Shining said from in front of them, not even getting a gasp of surprise from the kissing couple. " _Ahem!_ " He repeated, groaning when they didn't respond. Finally, a camera flash went off, the result being the two young adults realizing that they were being watched and separating embarrassingly with blushes that spoke of how nervous they were. "Now that your attention has been gotten, how's about we head home and eat some dinner, Twilight?"

Said mare looked to her brother suspiciously, seeing Cadance land beside her coltfriend with the camera hanging around her neck, she glared knowingly with an angry blush. "You're following us! You don't trust me?! And give me that picture!" Twilight's words were followed by her struggling to 'grab' the developing photo that Cadance waved teasingly in her paw, with her magic. "I said give me that picture, Cadance!"

"Aw, but it's so cute seeing you and your coltfriend kiss..." She pouted, her words being as teasing as possible. "Besides, you're too shy to kiss him so much that seeing you kiss isn't worth taking a picture!" Her words got Twilight to glare with a scrunched up face as she decided to make her foalsitter eat her own words.

"Oh yeah?" Twilight asked proudly.

Cadance, smiling smugly, said. "Yeah."

With no warning to the blushing stallion at Twilight's side, Twilight stole a deep, passionate kiss with her coltfriend as she lowered him to the ground and held him still like she were the larger of the two. In this situation, however, it did seem like she was the larger of the two ponies. Shining glared at his sister's coltfriend distrustingly while Cadance gaped, realizing that her favorite foal-to-sit was growing up and more assertive. The kiss lasted a few minutes, Cadance not wanting to interrupt and making sure Shining didn't, before the couple pulled away slowly, content to remain in each other's company for all eternity. "I'm going to marry you someday." Twilight said tactlessly, getting Shining to facefault while Cadance's jaw hit the cobbled ground and Crumble's entire coat color seemed to change from lime green to cherry red.

"W-W-W-W-W-What?!" Cauldron asked meekly, getting Twilight's face to take on a much more 'alluring' expression as she stroked his cheek slowly, sultrily. She lowered her mouth to his ear, gently, playfully nipping it and making her coltfriend develop a nosebleed at what she whispered in what she knew of the eldritch language. "D-D-D-D-D-Don't tease-e-e-e-e m-m-m-m-me-e-e-e-e l-l-l-like that, T-Twi! W-W-What are you even saying, right now?!" His question was forcefully ignorant, making his marefriend blush in a different manner as her eyelids lowered halfway and she closed the gap between their muzzles.

Kissing him once again, she said into his lips and mouth, "You fucking heard me..." She giggled seductively, moans of approval at her coltfriend's full-body blush and rising phallus being the only sound besides those of their lips smacking together, Cadance taking this opportunity to snap several, flashless photos. "Now remember, _my delicious-licious Cookie_ ," Cauldron's nostrils flared at the seductive, sultry tone in her voice and the words she'd said. "Be gentle as you 'ride' your," His heartbeat skyrocketed. "Little," Pupils shrinking to pinpricks, his mouth watered. "Pony!" In that moment, the Fucking Dam broke in both the metaphorical sense and the oh-so literal one, as he was up in a flash to begin kissing his marefriend like he wanted to drink every last drop of air and saliva she had in her system.

Twilight's surprised moan was soon followed by those of aroused approval, _her_ stallion's erection nestling against _her_ loins as he lowered himself upon _her_ small body. With cleft hooves on his shoulders, she brought one up behind his head and deepened the kiss, the stallion she'd dreamed of doing the deed with actually fulfilling one of her fantasies. Cauldron, hips thrusting against her sopping loins, pulled away for air and nickered at her seductively before aiming his six foot long genitals for her vulva. He needn't have looked to her for confirmation of what she wanted, he already knew that she- _they_ -needed this, but he lifted his head long enough to see her nod before he penetrated her for the first, and _certainly_ not last, time.

Thankful for how ponies evolved so that they could copulate while facing each other, he began thrusting into his moaning marefriend, every cell in his body dancing with electricity-like euphoria. His marefriend brought her hind legs around his hips as best she could, their differing size making it difficult for her to completely wrap her limbs around his entire width, and it was enough to make him lift her up as he stood, hunched over on his hindlegs with Twilight hanging from his underside like a monkey's baby, thrusting into the only mare he'd had eyes for.

Shining was gaping, glaring and doing many other things as a smugly grinning Cadance held him back while simultaneously taking numerous pictures. Cauldron and Twilight, oblivious to their audience, continued rutting against each other like animals. "Yes! Yes! Don't stop!" Twilight said, her breath practically visible with how hot she and Crumble were compared to the air around them, her horn firing sparks off into the air around them in a shower of light that acted as a curtain of magic! A groan of disappointment left an aroused Cadance who turned to her coltfriend with a sultry smile, wings extended to their full grandeur in arousal before she grabbed the collar of his uniform and took him in the street they were in. There was no risk of anypony stumbling upon them, the moonlit street having a rather empty neighborhood around it, giving Twilight all of the room to let her voice be head by the stallion she chose.

"I won't!" Crumble answered, his breaths coming out as ragged pants and his heart feeling about ready to burst. " _Trust me_ , I won't! After all," He chuckled, pressing his spark-fountain of a marefriend against the wall of a house, and began licking her horn. Her cry of please was mirrored by his own, Twilight's vaginal muscles tightening around his penis like a vice as he fought to pull out and thrust back in. "I've gotta claim you as mine the only way I know how..."

Her back to the wall and her eyes squeezed shut as she rose through Cloud Three through Six, she asked between moans, "W-MMM!-What's that, my _delicious-licious Cookie?_ " Using that phrase again, she received the head of her stallion's penis through her cervix to begin punching into her womb, her shriek of pleasure from the pounding she was receiving splitting the night's calm atmosphere. In and out he thrusted, the head of his penis passing her cervix over and over again, his phallus reaching the depths of her womb in all the right ways. She whinnied and neighed loudly, all her nerves on fire as she let her tongue loll out of her open mouth, inviting her lover to claim her mouth and give it a thorough washing.

"By the time we're finished," Came Crumble's gasp, pulling away for air as he once again began licking his future wife's horn, the tightening of her vaginal muscles driving him up the wall. "You'll be carrying my young. _Our_ young! From now on, Twili, you're _mine_ and I am _yours_ , forever and onward. We can be alone together for the rest of our lives-when we decide-as _wife and husband!_ " Emphasizing each word with a thrust into her womb, she answered with gasps and groans of pleasure before she firmly placed a shaking-with-immense-pleasure-hoof on his shoulder, getting him to slow to a near halt as he realized what he'd said. Tears of guilt and honest pride in his eyes, he began to pull out again. " _I'm so sorry!_ I don't know wha-! He was interrupted by a stern, serious look in his bride-to-be's eyes, the feeling of her hindlegs pulling him back in-with greater strength than one would assume the small and sexy mare would have-to slowly return to his new home in her womb.

They stayed like that for a moment, tears falling freely and fearfully from Crumble's eyes, his eyes never leaving his marefriend's. "Did you mean it?" The mare asked seriously, her tone sounding angry to the cowardly stallion inside of her, all of the sparks flying from her horn having diminished in number and magnitude as she undulated her hips. "Did you mean what you said just now, Crumby?" Silence answered her as she moaned in pleasure, horizon-violet eyes cowing tearful cerulean blues. "Answer me! Did you mean it?!" Twilight demanded, getting her mate to jerk in fright.

Choking on his own voice, he nodded profusely before bowing his head in a sign of apology even as he felt enormous amounts of bliss pass through him at the way Twilight's muscles flexed around his nine-and-a-half-inch girth. " _Yes!_ " He whimpered pathetically, his boner never having decreased as this went on as the warmth and tightness inside of his future bride kept blood flowing in his nether regions. "I meant _every word_ of it!" Without any warning, Twilight grabbed his face and claimed his lips, her hips thrusting against his as best as she could make them.

"Good," She said passionately, a lusty smile on her face and joyous tears streaming down her cheeks. "You'd better do so, otherwise you're not going to be getting a moment's rest after today! I've always wanted to have children with you, Crumble, and now that I know you want the same, let's prove that real stallions make _twins..._ " Her words were followed by Cauldron slamming his lips against hers, teary eyes clamped shut as he fulfilled one of his dreams, moans being the only sounds that left the entangled lovers. Pulling away with a drunken smile, she lifted herself up from her position against the wall, the feeling of her future husband's length pulling out of her getting her to gasp before wrapping her mouth around what she could get of the front of Crumble's horn, his thrusts becoming more and more vigorous. "AAH! Remember, Crumby," She gasped ecstatically, tongue lolling out as sparks flew through the air and her eyes beheld the stallion she loved. "We're making twins! Understand?" Vigorous nods answered her, a smile gracing her lips as she muttered the words, "Ji'i'k...Li'io, _layivuaylaefy yiy!_ Layivuaylaefy ili'gua sgfguay _iolasy!_ "

As if a switch had been flipped in his mind, he began thrusting even harder, his penis driving itself deep into his future bride and sending her voice skyward alongside his. Claiming her lips with a chaste kiss, he said between pants, "I'm not going to stop until you're swollen with my seed and fertilized, Twili!" He returned his lips to hers, suddenly finding himself on his back with Twilight bouncing her hips up and down his shaft, the feelings she stirred inside of him clouding his thoughts except to impregnate her and officially make her his mate.

However, as they soon discovered by the feeling of a pressure building up in their loins and their haste to relieve it, all great things must come to an end. The liquids within their respective 'cauldron' finally bubbling over and flooding their minds with bliss, the ninth cloud having been reached as Crumble's phallus released spurt after spurt of liquid love for his marefriend and she in turn accepted it with a look of pure, sexual bliss. Unknown to them, too caught up in their lovemaking to notice the already rather large bulge in Twilight's lower abdomen, the mare's hind area began to swell with the seed her mate had emptied into her. The heat inside of her making her turn her fucked-silly face to the moon above and cry out from experiencing her first ever orgasm.

Crumble, laying there in bliss, half-lidded eyes beholden to the sight of his marefriend in her post-orgasmic, blissful beauty. Slowly, hesitantly, Twilight removed herself from the piece of the puzzle that completed her so fully as her vulva snapped shut to prevent any of her future husband's semen from seeping out. "We're _so_ doing that again!" Twilight said, blush across her face and euphoric smile plastered from ear to ear, looking to her content-looking mate whose eyes began to slowly close. "You're not sleeping out in the middle of the empty neighborhood's street, my love..." Hearing her own words, she blushed with a giggle of someone riding Cloud Nine, before grabbing her coltfriend's scruff in her mouth and pulled him all the way to her house where she teleported the two of them into her bed.

"I..." Cauldron muttered in his half-conscious state, Twilight leaning in to hear him as did a slowly waking up Rarity Belle. "Love you...Twili..." Said mare smiled with tears in her eyes again, pulling the blankets over him, her moving getting the love juice in her womb to slosh around oh so pleasantly, she kissed him lovingly on the lips before crawling under the blanket herself to cuddle her future groom.

"I love you too, Crumby..." She whispered into his ear, the stallion hugging her close as they drifted off to sleep in each other's arms. _Best. Date. Ever!_ Twilight thought to herself, only later finding out that Spike had been taken home by Shining and Cadance after their own rigorous fucking.

 **Next morning**

Twilight was the first to wake up, the warmth around her keeping her within the feeling of security and love. Memories of the night before flew through her mind, making her eyes widen with a blush and a nosebleed before she smiled and wiped the blood away, doing a happy dance inside her head at fulfilling one of her dreams. _I'm going to be Crumby's wife! I'm going to be a mother!_ She was ecstatic, but she didn't want to wake her peacefully sleeping fiancee, his face so tranquil and like a sign from Celestia that the world wasn't all bad. _I'll love waking up to see your handsome face, my groom. My Crumby, Bubbling Cauldron..._

She didn't do anything but stare with a loving, blissful glow about her being as she memorized each and every part of his face in this moment of peace. The way his lime green coat looked like the grass in a park made her want to do nothing but start eating him up, his straight horn standing tall and proud yet humble and gentle at the same time, while locks of his white mane had founds their way to hang over his eyes messily. Normally, Twilight would've removed the offending tresses, but not this morning. She didn't want to risk disturbing him and ruining this moment, this moment where nothing could hurt either of them no matter how much it tried.

An overwhelming silence in the morning would seem horrible to most ponies, but this morning Twilight was too focused on the stallion she loved and the fluttery feeling in her belly to notice that her bedroom was silent sans the sound of hers and Crumble's breathing. Slowly, ever so slowly, she brought herself closer to the stallion for cuddles that she felt were justly hers to claim. Without any resistance from the sleeping occult specialist, she hugged herself to Cauldron's chest and nuzzled him gently, taking in the scent of the bakery he lived in, the library he stayed in most of the time, the diner he frequented and the love they'd made under the bright blue moon hours earlier. How long did she remain like that, eyes closed and smile playing at her lips, with her problems with the world never crossing her mind? Hard to say.

It could've been a minute, it could've been an hour. It could've been a year and Twilight would still feel as happy as she did now, free of her troubles and free of fear, safe in the arms of her sleeping lover. There was no place she would've rather been, though, little did she know, that her day wasn't going to turn out as good as she'd like.

When several hours had passed and Twilight reawoke to the feeling of her mate rousing from his slumber, she moaned in tired protest to his moving to leave the bed and leave her cold and alone. "Twili," He whispered, getting her to lightly groan in acknowledgement of his using her name. "It's morning."

"Morning can wait until I'm ready to stop cuddling..." She moaned, wrapping her arms and legs around him as best as she could, aptly summarizing her feelings on the matter of getting up. Hearing her eventual groom's unsure hum, Twilight hammered the last nail in the coffin. "Stay in bed and keep your future bride warm." That was all the stallion needed to be convinced, wrapping his arms around the small mare and nuzzling her head before making his way down to nuzzle her neck. As he made his way lower, he gave her a good morning kiss, neither of them really caring about their morning breath, before he ran his muzzle over her throat which received him a happy moan.

"Oh," Cauldron chuckled softly, nuzzling that spot more, getting his future bride to wrap her arms around his neck and bring his head closer to her neck with pleasant moans leaving her throat. "Is your neck your soft region, Twili?" He asked, getting her to hum an affirmation before seeing how close his horn was to her face, her proximity to the body part giving her the chance to examine it curiously as her mate abused her soft region mercilessly with her happy moans encouraging his behavior.

 _His horn has engravings on it..._ She mused, the lightly glimmering symbols spiraling up his horn catching her eye, when Cauldron's nuzzling evolved into gentle nipping as he rose up the side of her neck. A louder, pleasant moan escaped her as his nipping reached behind and under her ear, a bright blush coming across her face as her whole body eased back to where it had been so she could continue having her newly discovered sweet spot assaulted with loving nips.

Cauldron's assaulting of her sweet spot slowly halted, a slight whine leaving the mare in his embrace. "Roll over in place, if you would, Twili." Begrudgingly, not very thrilled about moving from her comfy position, she positioned herself so that her back was up against his body, giving him a better angle to start nibbling at that spot behind her ears and getting Twilight's moans to increase as she tried to force her head into the pleasant stimulus.

Groaning as all of her muscles-not including her vaginal muscles-loosened up at the amazing sensation. "Don't stop..." Twilight whispered, eyes closed as she experienced tingles going up and down her spine from the top of her scalp.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Twili." He answered briefly, not stopping in his massaging of her sensitive, sweet spot. They continued like this, Twilight moaning comfortably as Cauldron nibbled at the spot behind her ear. "This is too relaxing and too fun to stop doing." For the mare receiving what felt like a deep tissue massage behind her ear, this was exactly what she needed after all the bullshit that had happened this month.

 _This month!_ Twilight thought suddenly, still enjoying the assaulting of her sweet spot, the realization that Rarity would be leaving soon making her feel sad. _She's going to be returning to Ponyville today._ "Hey," She began, the lack of Rarity's sleeping breaths having tipped her off to the fact the Crystal Pony was awake. "Would it be okay if we were pen pals, Rarity?"

"Of course, Darling." Rarity answered immediately, eyes wide as she saw the position Cauldron and Twilight were in. "Oh, please have some decency and do that when nopony's around!" With a little bit of magic, Twilight flipped herself and her coltfriend over underneath the blanket, letting her face her best friend and still receive the treatment Cauldron was treating her to.

"We're not fornicating right now, Rarity." Twilight said pointedly between appreciative hums, eyes closed with a pleased grin on her face. "We did all of that last night..." In that moment, Rarity's coat hardened and became an armor of embarrassed red ruby at the implications, a trickle of blood leaving her nose. "Also Rarity, I didn't need to act like a lady to get my stallion to love me!" She said that with a cheerful smile that softened as her mate began licking the spot he'd been nibbling for the past few minutes, her eyes going crossed at the sensation.

Rarity giggled at the look on her best friend's face. "My my, you've really worked her sweet spot, Cauldron." She said suggestively, getting the stallion to blush and hyper focus on administering pleasure to his marefriend without getting hot under the collar. Coming up to inspect the purple mare's status, she caught a whiff of the smell telling of sweat and sex which made her wave her hoof in front of her face at the strength of it, before noticing that the back of Twilight's other ear was left unattended. "Cauldron, darling," Began the future Crystal Empress sagely, the stallion listening but not stopping his lavishing of love to Twilight's ear. "If you're going to make a mare feel good, you should go all the way or else she might not do even that..." To prove her point, she climbed up onto the bed and laid herself down in front of her best friend, beginning to nibble behind Twilight's other ear as she didn't want to give her the wrong idea with her tongue or accidentally damage the purple mare's beautiful mane with her cleft hooves.

As a result of the double teaming, Twilight's eyes crossed even more in a way that made her look like a fish before her lids slid closed, all she could do was pleasantly hum in appreciation of their pampering her feelings. "Mmm, you're so good at this, you two...I'm sorry, Rarity, but if you even think about trying to take Cauldron from me, I'm going to have to show you why he chose me! Same goes for you, Cauldron," She said dangerously, but with how happy and soft she sounded between groans of pleasure it was impossible to take her seriously. "If you even think about trying to go out with Rarity instead of me, I'll show you why you chose me in the first place! _Oooh, just like that, Cauld!_ " She said the last part excitedly, pushing her head back towards Cauldron's ministrations as he focused on repeating the action of taking her entire ear into his mouth and sucking as he pulled off of her hearing organ. " _That's right..._ Just like that!" Twilight scrunched up her face as her coltfriend pulled away from her head, the suction around her ear feeling amazing as he let go and started all over again, while Rarity pulled away to watch the odd exchange and try to choke back a giggle at Twilight's expression. "Oh, I don't want this to ever stop..." She said with her tongue lolling out at the feelings her coltfriend was stirring within her.

She wore a face that looked like the cross between a mare getting a knot massaged out of her back and a mare who was getting a crick out of her neck, both a look of bliss at the sensations she was experience and woe that it was going away, before it returned and started her all over again with her tongue lolling back out. "Your ears must be rather sensitive if they make you feel this good, Darling." Rarity said open-endedly, her hooves reaching up to gently rub the purple mare's ear between them seemingly of their own accord, getting Twilight's happy groaning to increase dramatically.

"Ah ah...Oh, that's it...Oh, this is paradise! Why didn't I try something like this earlier-Ah ah ahhhh...mmmmm" The sounds she made were funny to hear to say the least. For their last day in the same room, Rarity and Twilight were in relatively good spirits!

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! This was...an experience, to say the least. I had a general idea of what I wanted to happen and it started evolving after I knew that I wanted Twilight to see the hostile work environment Crumble lived in. My rough draft had been a rather shitty Rainbow chapter that ya'll wouldn't enjoy, so I scrapped it, but I did keep some key points in. The first being the continuing development of relations between characters, specifically of the romantic variety, and the other thing was that I wanted at least one of the characters to let the shit in their life bite them in the ass.

Most of the other characters didn't feel altogether organic in this chapter, which is something I can't put my finger on, and the lemon I made didn't feel that organic either but I couldn't bring myself to scrap it 'cause it'll be a bit of a bigger part of their lives down the road. Twilight's rather high sexdrive and interesting fetishes were probably the most fun I had making in this chapter, with the canon character seeming to be a ball of innocence that I loved watching but didn't believe was altogether realistic. She's attractive, smart and altogether a great mare. Granted, she was rather antisocial and a little too quick to make friends in the first episode, but that's 'cause it's a show made for kids and they needed to show character progression in a way that kids could keep up with without losing focus of the plot.

Even if she's socially avoidant, an adult woman don't turn out like Twilight do. She won't act like someone who doesn't understand what's going on with people. Most socially avoidant people are socially awkward and won't catch onto things right away, but they're not entirely naive and they're most certainly not so easy to fluster as Twilight is. When she mistook Snips and Snails' praise as regarding to her, she noticeably blushed, which is not something who's socially awkward would do. I'm socially awkward but I'm awkward in the sense that I just give no shits and thus, come off as socially awkward or inept due to my apparent ignorance of people's freaking out over stuff that seems trivial.

Back on track, it's not just the social awkwardness, either. She's smart, awesome, but she's also rather childish for someone who's raised an intelligent dragon, saved a country from eternal night and more shitty would-be catastrophes. We've seen that Twi's mature, taking charge of a town in disarray, gathering up a team to fight a dragon that could potentially lead to huge amounts of famine and bearing the responsibility of the day/night cycle for a single day. Yes, this is a show made for kids and thus the characters have to be relatable, but it always struck me as odd that the leader of the Mane 6 and thereafter Princess of Friendship was so easily intimidated, impressed, riled up or excited.

During the Gauntlet of Fire, Twi takes notes and is threatened by Garble whose power is less than hers. Granted, she's still unsure of how much power to use on mortals, but a _fucking demigod_ is being intimidated by an angsty, edgy teenager! That makes no fucking sense. Afterwards, we see her notebook on everything she's gathered about dragons, and that's great and all but why's she so proud of something she could've done earlier more efficiently?! She's a smart mare, we've seen this-minus Deus ex machinas-so this behavior seems really outta place.

I'm losing track, so I'll just leave it at the fact that Twi's innocent, childish and naive behavior doesn't add up with how she's been building up to be. She took charge of a sleep deprived workaholic and her job so she'd be able to make some income, she saved Equestria with the help of her friends and has made magical discoveries; so why's it that this respectable, intelligent mare is being portrayed as little more than a source of antics than really of relevance?

To spice her up and give her a bit more depth, I gave/am giving her Bubbling Cauldron/Cookie Crumble as well as the Cult of Canterlot Arc, so I continued with a sexually mature and sexually repressed unicorn before pairing her up with another sexually mature/repressed unicorn which lead to a logical climax. Oh, that pun hurt! Not much else to say besides I wanted to have some more interaction with Rarity and Twi since she's been fading into the background recently, so I made this little exchange of dialogue and teasing. (As Always: thanks for bein' here, R&R, _please review_ , no flammin' my ass, constructive criticism an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)


	14. Forward Momentum and Eternal Standstill

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! It's time I put aside my biases and accept the fact that some members of this story's cast must suffer more than they already have. Say goodbye to the one(s) who die! All references and plot developments that involve other content creators are due to their being no copyright or trademarking on their OCs and the like, and thus are a part of the public domain. Now, please do check out all the content creators I reference. Another thing to note is I'm building up to the killing-off-of-character(s), so it won't be in this chapter or the next one(maybe). Ass kissing aside: anything to say, Pinkie?

Pinkie: *Hungover as fuck* kill me...

Maybe later when you're irrelevant.

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

Written document(s)

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

In the darkness flashes a green, slitted, glowing primal eye and an empty, black socket. They stare into the darkness, a dark and charming, charismatic voice leaving a set of ferocious teeth. " **It's only just begun...** " Voice being male, it was apparent that this was no ordinary being if the way he lit up the cave he was within to reveal his head was a dappled black and white pony head compared to his draconic body. Scales mismatched with patches of fur, his main color palette was purple with his underbelly being blue. Spikes of varying hues running down his spine from the base of his skull, they drew attention to his four horns with those like a mountain ram's coming out of his temples and dripping a strange, yellow liquid while the the other pair were more akin to a farm goat's. His mane was a solid, iron grey that seemed to tell of old age. " **After all, even the gods must die at some point...HahahahahHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-I'd better not miss a damned thing, kiddos.** "

All around him groaned differing levels of hybridizations between equines and draconic beings, each one seeming to be in some form of agony at even breathing. "Lord..." One whimpered, looking up to the male that had spoken first, sitting atop his throne adorned with black rhombus-shaped gems of numerous sizes from the size of pebbles to the size of a shield. "Please, have mercy on us..."

Looking down to the pitiful creature below him, an abominable cross between a mule and a wyvern. Its furred wings were contorted at a one hundred and eighty degrees from their joints, forcing them to pierce through one another to ease the pain at least a little by changing it to the pain of bleeding out. One leg a mule's leg that had been split in half down the middle yet still somehow remaining able to be used, the other leg was missing and was a fountain of unending yellow blood-like liquid. " **And what will that solve?** " Asked the lord in the throne.

Face portraying shock and pained grief, the creature's mouth was broken to the point that all the moved was the tongue while the four pairs of jaws fought to crush one another. "You'll be free of my presence..." The pathetic creature whimpered, tears falling from its eyes and into the flower-like monstrosity it called a mouth. "I'll be free from bothering you, Lord Horizon..."

" **Lord _Event_ Horizon, you inconsiderate squab! I've put centuries into destroying this place for wretches like _you_ to live out your eternal torment in some form of peace, and you dare ask me to end the suffering of one of my own? I ought to make your living Hell worse!** " The now named Event Horizon said venomously, a serpentine tongue flickering out of his mouth to emphasize his words.

"But-"

" **But nothing, squab! Enough of you...Rest in agony, you waste of space, you.** " Placing a mangled claw to his face, smearing blood across his fur, he sighed heavily, tiredly. As the creature limped away, yellow blood leaking everywhere alongside puddles of puss and excrement from the others that had no doubt begged for freedom from being forced to breath. Seeing yet another old, wounded creature limp away pitifully, he lifted a hoof that barely hung from his chest by a strand of ligament, wincing as he did so. " **...Wait...I'll _ease_ your torment, if not for you, then for my own benefit. Double you workload and make the rest do the same...** " Removing his claw from his face, bags became visible underneath his eyes, the years having been unkind to him in this hole he'd made for what little he could call his 'kind'.

The creature he'd sent away turned slowly, painfully to look to its lord with something almost approximate to hope. "...Really?" It asked, tears of oil leaving its eyes more and more, falling into its skyward-facing maw and getting it to cough up its own organs before gasping and sucking them back in. Event Horizon nodded pityingly, not allowing himself to feel anything once more.

" **Just this once, I will grant you mercy. However, it's a temporary mercy as not even I can grant you the mercy you wish for...For that, I order you to push yourself to the point that all pain is unable to be felt within the next millennium you'll awake in...** " He lurched forward, coughing up a heart he fell on top of, the creature before him screaming in soul-shattering pain as its body was contorted to the shape of something vaguely reptilian. Multiple legs laid splayed out beneath its mangled body, the sound of breath fading away making Event Horizon rise with a quivering sigh. " **Another one lays in death-like sleep, and here I sit, alone in an obsidian prison I made from the remains of my conquests...How much longer, until we might rest eternally...Never, says Fate.** "

 **With Twilight**

Awaking with a gasp and moving to rise, regret was the immediate emotions she encountered, failing to rise out of bed with her lover on her pregnant belly. "Are you okay, Twili?" Crumble asked anxiously, rising from his place over her belly. "What's wrong?!" Groaning, Twilight slowly lowered herself back into her earlier position of rest. The past year had been kind to her considering the fact she'd been found to be pregnant from their first sexual encounter, but ever since the day she'd been told, taking care of herself had been her only concern. She nodded to Crumble's worries, taking several deep breaths.

"You shouldn't listen for kicks while I'm sleeping, Crumby...It almost scares me as much as suppressor rings." Twilight's words got her lover to remove himself from her belly, moving to get off the bed to start the day before the piston in one of his prosthetic legs caught, getting him to fall on his face. "You okay, Crumby?" She asked, the desire to rise being overruled by the desire to keep her babies healthy. "If your dead, our twins will hear stories about how you ran out on us..." Leaving it hanging there, the sounds of indignant groans answered her, a relieved sigh being her response. "Okay, good!"

The lime green stallion rose from the floor carefully, growling at what his front hooves had been replaced with. "Damn it, Lemon Heart needs to recalibrate these fucking things!" He glared irately at what he had in place of hooves, the column around the length of his metacarpals stretched down with a pair of thin pistons that connected to a retractable finger-shoe that allowed him to not only walk but use his legs as grabbing appendages. The piston in question was on his right forelimb, his flexing only getting it to squeak painfully. "Shit...Twili," He whined, looking to the mare he lived with.

Head now turned to her lover, she fluttered her eyelashes and sarcastically asked, "Yes, Crumby?"

"Right," He nodded with a chuckle, excitement in his eyes at their twins' due date being a month away. "You're bedridden unless we roll you over, and the likelihood of your magic working while your pregnant might not be in our favor. Maybe we should get Lemon Heart to make you a frame? One like construction workers use but instead of using arms, it allows you to walk...Have to look into that later. Right now, on the other hoof," Rising against the bed, he levitated himself over to the window and muttered a few things in the eldritch language, getting the glass to seem to become a wall of vertical liquid within which could be seen a lemon yellow unicorn of indeterminate gender with a cerulean mane and tail as well as raspberry eyes. "Lemon Heart," Cauldron began, waving his prosthetic with an unamused expression on his face.

On the other side of the liquid glass, the pony gave Cauldron's prosthetic a curious look with a hoof to their chin. "Maybe I should just change design to something a lot more spring-based? It's always that one leg, and no matter how many times I fix or replace those pistons, something goes wrong..." They said, their cloud of hearts glowing slightly from what appeared to be a new fuel for one of their inventions.

Good prosthetic hoof to his chin, Cauldron curiously asked, "How long will it take for you to create a new model for me?"

"Eh," Lemon Heart shrugged, putting on their goggles as they began welding something out of sight of the liquid glass communication. Their words being heard thanks to the specifics Cauldron had spoken. "Give me a couple hours and I'll have something ready for you. Already started working on a spring-based prosthetic for crippled athletes thanks to a new sponsor; you'd make a great guinea pig!" Finishing their welding and returning to grin at Cauldron excitedly, said stallion stared back with an unamused frown on his face.

"Jeez, thanks for the vote of confidence, Lemon Heart. It's not like we're _friends_ or anything!" He said irritably, hearing the non-binary pony titter excitedly at what they seemed to assume was an agreement to the idea.

"Knew you'd love it; you're the best, Cauld. Talk to you in a few hours, bye!" With that Lemon Heart dashed off into their workshop, causing Cauldron's magic to fade away while he stared out the window with an unhappy frown on his face and his ears twitching like his eye.

Sighing and levitating himself back onto the bed, he groaned, "How'd we become friends with them, again?" Carefully, he levitated Twilight into a leaning position against his body, a sigh leaving his favorite mare in Equestria. "Because I don't think I was this 'desperate' to get myself killed until after you introduced me to them." Cauldron's words made Twilight giggle, a melodious sound that he couldn't stop hearing. "Oh, so you're in agreement, huh? Should we tell our twins about the story of 'how your mother nearly killed me by giving me a friend who thinks I should be tested on'?" Slowly waving his messed up prosthetic before the both of them dramatically, he heard her start laughing heartily, an occurrence he treasured more than ever since they'd been crippled.

"Well," Twilight began, grinning with closed eyes. "One good thing that came from that lunatic 'Doggy-Corn' tearing off your forelimbs is that you had a reason to help me with rehabilitation and we now have one of the best, affordable inventors in Equestria as our friend!" Her words got Cauldron to grin, eyes drifting off into space nostalgically before Twilight blew air in his face, interrupting his attempt at remembering the encounter with the serial lunatic 'Doggy-Corn'. "You can reminisce after we do stuff, Crumby. Right now, I need your help getting around while I'm pregnant since Spike's staying at Mom and Dad's house, and Shining's performing Royal Guard duties." A groan of mock exasperation answered her, getting her to lightly glare at the stallion she was going to sire twins with.

"I'm already a real stallion for making twins, do I really have to carry you everywhere I go, too?" He asked dramatically, getting Twilight to magically puppeteer her right forelimb into slapping his chest. "Alright, Twili, you're the boss! I'll help you out of bed. Besides, it's no fun for me either when you're the only one in bed." Nuzzling her cheek, he received a light nipping and pulling of his ears from the bedridden mare. "Hey, hey, easy! Don't you remember what the doctor said? 'No rough housing'."

Her lips forming into a pout as she pulled out the puppy eyes, she muttered, "But I was just trying to get you to listen to your children kicking me, unless you don't want to-" She didn't get to finish as she suddenly felt another set of kicks, her mate pressing his ear against her beach ball-sized belly. "I guess you do want to hear our babies, huh? Hehe-oof! Marksaline has your kick."

"That's my girl!" Crumble said proudly, rubbing his lover's belly tenderly before he found that his head suddenly ached from Twilight punching him. "Ow! Hey, Marksaline's my girl, you're my _lady_ , Twili. No need to get jealous of your own daughter." Twilight huffed, puffing out her cheeks and turning her head away from the stallion she lived with.

"I was your girl first..." She whined, the feeling of her ear getting suckled making her moan before she lightly squealed at him in protest. "No! I don't want to like you, right now!"

"Not even if I were to say...do this?" Leaning in and claiming her sourly-pouting lips, he grinned when she moaned in approval as he pulled away. "Feel better, Twili?"

"Maybe. You didn't have to pull away so quickly..." Her words got a compassionate chuckle from Crumble, nuzzling her before he found his ear in between her teeth again.

"Hey hey hey hey! Now now, no need to start biting me! Besides, what about little Puff?" Twilight immediately let go of her lover's ear, an ear to ear smile gracing her lips.

"She's being rather curious, prodding the walls of my womb but she's not making any attempt to kick or punch me, so I think she's not going to be too much of a troublemaker." Finished speaking, Twilight sighed contentedly. "I'm hungry."

Crumble snorted, "When are you not hungry?" Ducking under a swing for his head, he chuckled.

"I'm feeding for three, Crumby! If I don't eat, they won't. Or, worse, they'll eat me!" She said this worriedly, getting Crumble to gently levitate her off of the bed and onto the kitchen counter. Twilight, eyes wandering as she had nothing better to do, asked, "Ever notice how lonely our tower is in the morning?"

"No, not really. You're all the company I need."

"I'm serious, Crumble. Since we moved here, there's been nopony but you and me here unless you count the holidays, but...It feels so empty with just the two of us." Her words were strangely deep considering she was normally content with it being just the two of them, Crumble coming up to her side to nuzzle her belly tenderly.

"It won't just be the two of us for long, Twili. Soon it'll you, me, Puff and Marksaline! But, on the topic of being alone, I thought I'd offer you an early birthday, Hearth's Warming Eve, Anniversary present and...well...Hehe." Scratching the back of his head with the unreliable prosthetic, he levitated and opened the Krivbeknih in front of Twilight for her to read. What she saw brought her to tears.

Dear Twilight,

Ever since we've met, my head's been spinning. I can't stop thinking about you, and when I do, I my thoughts always come back to you. The sound of your voice makes me want to cry out of pride that I'm the first pony to hear the voice of an angel. Whenever you laugh, my heart skips a beat and I forget to breath because that wonderful sound you say embarrasses you, reminds me that there's still beauty in the world. And that beauty is you. The day you tripped me, I couldn't shut up about you to Cashgrab, my parents or myself!

You make my mind explode everyday I wake up beside you, the knowledge that my life with you isn't a dream making my heart sing as my head goes into overdrive with the information that there's still so much you and I have left to see together. After I found out about what Jumble and his crew did to you, I was ready to tear him to pieces and burn his soul on the spot, but I didn't because I wanted that decision to be yours. My arms might be prosthetic and fake, but my love for you and the warmth in my hugs are realer than Ms. Lulamoon's pyrotechnics laboratory.

Arguing with you makes my heart sink and my head ache because you're the smartest mare I've ever met, and you're so smart I find myself lost as to whether or not I'm right. I've struggled with depression for years, my parents' disapproval of me not helping me in the slightest, but when you came into my life...I felt happy. I was content to admire you from a distance when Jumble was around, knowing you were safe from my mistakes comforting me every night I guilt tripped myself into contemplating suicide. You complete me, you inspire me and you are everything I look forward to living with for the rest of my life.

I've never been a poetic stallion, but I know how to speak my mind after a couple minutes. Maybe hours. You know, come to think of it, it took me days to muster the courage to ask you out so we'll just say it takes me a while to find my spine and use my words. As I write this, you're sleeping with our babies growing safe and sound inside your tummy which I can't help rubbing, knowing that you and our twin daughters are real. These feelings I have for you are real. The life I have with you is real. And those are things I'm never going to give up on.

However, I have only one question for you...

Tears streamed down Twilight's face, the images that accompanied the words bringing her nostalgia and grief, as she turned to her lover whose face was a soft, calm and contented smile. "Will you marry me?" He asked simply, getting the mare to nod with her front hooves puppeteered up to her mouth to hold back the sobs.

"Yes!" She said, her voice choking on itself before she used what magic she could to walk over and kiss her fiance. "Yes I will marry you, you supernatural, occult son of a bitch!"

Smiling with tears trailing down his cheeks, he chuckled, "That's a little hurtful, don't you think?"

"Are you doing to disagree?" She asked simply, an 'are you serious'-look on her face.

He shook his head. "Never said I would disagree with you, Twili. I was just asking if you that was a little hurtful." Before she could answer, he gave her a heavy, passionate kiss on the lips, silencing anymore conversation before it could begin. Staying like that for who-knew-how-long, they were interrupted by a ringing of their doorbell, both groaning as they pulled away from one another's lips. "I'll get it..." Crumble groaned, making his way down the lower two stories of their tower.

"Who is it?" Twilight asked from the kitchen, talking into the voice pipes against the wall that reached their first floor. One ear lifted with the other folded back to listen, the only sound she heard was silence. _Oh no. What happened? Did the cultists resurface?! Are we going to die?!_ Her thoughts began spiraling down from there, horrible possibilities flying through her mind before the voice of a Minuette Wintergatan.

"Hi, Twilight." The musician said with a yawn. "Heart said they needed some things for your coltfriend's fake legs." Cauldron's voice came through the pipe as a cough, the words 'fiancee now' reaching Twilight's ear. "You say something, Bub?"

"Oh no, nothing at all besides the fact that we're engaged now!" Cauldron responded sarcastically, the sound of a light punch to his shoulder being audible. "Hey, it's not my fault you don't listen to anypony."

"It's your fault for not speaking up, Bub. Now," Minuette said tiredly, obviously not having had her coffee yet. "Where do you want me to put these pieces of junk."

"Those are going to be my legs, you bitch, don't call them junk!"

Another punch to the shoulder was audible. "Until you can walk with whatever contraption Heart makes, they're pieces of junk. You know what, I'm just going to dump them in your living quarters so I can congratulate the both of you properly."

"No punching the pregnant mare's shoulder, Min!" Twilight said firmly, her friend's penchant for friendly punches acting as the leading cause for several charges being pressed against the steel blue earth pony musician.

"Yeah yeah," Minuette replied absently. "Just have the coffee ready and I'll think about it." Twilight began struggling to prepare a cup of Joe after that, as a 'caffeinated Minuette is a happy Minuette'. Horn barely lit with a glow and her face scrunched up in exertion, she began scooping coffee grounds into a filter where she began pouring warm milk she had in their reheating unit. With slow, shaky strokes of the magically moving milk carton, cow juice was poured into the coffee ground and filter.

With her head flying left and right, the sound of a crack could be heard, a grunt of pain following. "What else? What else? Stupid legs; why did you have to get stabbed by Doggy-Corn's horn?!"

"I'm coming in, Spark Horn." Minuette said 'threateningly'. "There'd better be coffee in there or you're getting a glass of punch." Hearing that, Twilight froze up, eyes wide and mane splitting every which way from the stress causing her magic to go haywire in every part of her body except her womb.

"Uh uh um! Where's Crumble?" She asked, trying to change the subject, the sight of the rising-up-the-spiral-staircase periwinkle mane making her sweat bullets. "Shouldn't he be coming up here, too?! To make sure he's here in case something happens?!" Her smile was strained as she saw the 'no fucks given'-look in Minuette's honey colored eyes, eyes wide in fear as her ears folded back with each step the earth pony mare took towards her. When Minuette was only a couple feet away from her, Twilight's eyes scrunched closed and she did her best to channel her magic into a protective field around her belly in case the tired Minuette missed her shoulder, however no punch came from the mare with a metronome for her cutie mark.

Instead, she felt a soft forehead against her shoulder, getting her to open her eyes and find the barely-standing-asleep form of Minuette Wintergatan leaning her head against the pregnant mare. "I know you can't make coffee, Spark Horn. Besides, I don't want to risk hurting these two." Saying that, she carefully rubbed a shoed hoof over Twilight's belly and got the privilege to feel a kick. A slight twitch at the corner of her mouth was all she did in response to the feeling of a new pony saying hello. "Do you want these in your bed area or here, in the kitchen?"

Twilight stared dumbfounded at her friend, eyes scouring over every wrinkle in the bags under the mare's eyes and every inch of fur. "Um...Here in the kitchen should work just fine for Lemon Heart." Receiving a simple nod, she noticed how Minuette reluctantly removed her hoof with a barely noticeable frown. "You know I don't mind ponies touching my belly, Min. Why're you always so..."

"'Reluctant'? 'Afraid'?" The musician finished, emptying the drum case on her back and slowly removing everything inside. "If I could, Spark Horn, I'd have gotten this 'issue' I have fixed." She pulled out several springs, gears and wires from more than a few household appliances and tools. "After all, soullessness isn't a flu you can cure..." Hearing her words, Twilight's ears folded back, guilty that she couldn't help her friend. "But, if I had to hazard a guess, I think the reason I'm so reluctant to touch you is because of the volume of your babies'. They're so loud that I'm worried what'll happen if I accidentally silence them with my emptiness..."

No response answered the soul shriven mare, getting her to look back and find Twilight struggling to turn around. "Where's my fiancee, Min? I need help."

"He's 'entertaining'-trying to fend off-Kai, Dusting and Moonie who also brought pieces for Cauld's fake legs." Minuette said flatly, approaching the coffee Twilight had made curiously, her nose sniffing the air above the mug. "You actually made me something that smells like coffee, Spark Horn...I'd cry if I knew how to."

Chuckling embarrassingly, Twilight offered, "Drink it and you'll figure it out." A look of uncertainty answered the mare failing to rotate her beach ball bellied body. (Try saying that five times fast) Minuette switched her gaze from Twilight and the mug of 'coffee', face expressing her gratitude at the gesture but feeling too afraid of what would happen, but her face also portrayed the feeling of obligation to drink the beverage her friend had tried to make for her. Looking back and forth between the drink and her friend, she conceded with a tired sigh.

"Might as well wake myself up enough to do anything productive today..." She muttered, sitting down and bringing the mug up to her quivering, nervous lips. Moving to drink it she faltered and backed away to repeat the action, before taking a deep breath. "Here goes nothing. Bottom's up down the hatch!" With that said, she guzzled the mug of coffee-like liquid, finishing it with a fearful gasp and a wiping of her chin. "Oh...that's a...that's-that's a flavor, right there! I-UGH-I'm sorry Twilight, but I'm gonna need to borrow your sink." Face turning green as she spoke, Minuette moved her head over the counter top and over the sink where she began vomiting up whatever she'd eaten for breakfast this morning.

"Sorry." Twilight apologized between heaves of her friend's stomach. "Sorry. Sorry..." Unable to see over her belly and over towards the sink, she didn't see the earth pony's hoof held in the air to mollify her apologizing.

"It's alright, Spark Horn," Minuette said weakly, her shaky hooves holding a glass which she began filling with water. "You just can't make a cup of coffee without killing somepony to save your life. It's fine! I'll be fine. I'll survive...Oh, I need to stop asking you to make me a cup of Joe." The last part being muttered while Twilight was still trying to turn, she didn't hear it before the sound of wings flapping got her to look and find her pegasus friends barely touching the ground with all of the vertical space in the tower.

The first one to her side was her old classmate from Canterlot Middle School, Moon Dancer. Cutie mark a trio of stars round a dark crescent moon, ane a brilliant amaranth with gray-violet and moderate blue highlights that she wore in a fishtail, pigeon-like wings matching her light cerise coat, tail feathers fanning and closing up in excitement as she lowered herself to the ground where her well-trimmed paws skipped across; she was quite a chipper and attractive pegasus to be sure. Eyes covered by dark goggles she wore to hide her brilliant, orange eyes from those who would harass her, she slowed to a stop at Twilight's side and wrapped her five foot long wings around the engaged expecting mother. "Just heard the news and I couldn't be happier for you!" Saying that with the biggest shit-eating grin anypony had ever seen on her face, she began excitedly asking questions before she found the other, turquoise pegasus' paw over her lips.

"We're happy for you, Bubbling and your expecting kids." Lightning Dust said with a gentle smile on her face, placing one of her smaller wings on Twilight's belly. Unlike many pegasi, Lightning Dust was born with four, peafowl-like wings instead of two normal avian-like ones due to her twin dying in the womb and some half-finished surgeries removing the majority of said twin's cadaver. Her first, larger set of wings were a brazen caramel and were four feet in length each while her smaller, original pair of wings were generously turquoise and a measly two feet with one of them being a foot shorter than the other. Her gamboge eyes, while happy, were downcast and losing their luster as her mind drifted towards what day it was. Twilight, not being the only intelligent mare in the tower, wasn't surprised when Lightning Dust received a feathery slap to the face from Moon Dancer that made her spread out all four wings and her long tail feathers. "Hey, what'd you do that for?!"

A knowing frown from Moon Dancer made the quad-winged pegasus bow her head in resignation, her amber-and-gold-striped mane held up in a twisted Mohawk while leaving tresses covering her left eye in the edgiest way she could get it, while her avian-like appendages lowered. Her long tail feathers were like the train of a male peafowl, and with her wing resembling those of said bird, she'd been called a 'buggery peacock' in school for showing off her large, amber-and-green, eye-patterned train feathers to impress colts. "I know that look, Dust. We've been roommates for the past five years and I know when you're feeling like crap. So, instead of playing stupid, how about you tell me what's wrong so we can move passed this and congratulate Twilight and Cauldron for their engagement?" Moon asked rhetorically, getting Lightning to lower her head closer to the floor.

Unknown to the roommates, Twilight had asked the earth pony in the room to do something for her, with Minuette coming up behind Lightning and lifting her train feathers to look at her normally unseen rear. "Nice pucker, Dusting," Minuette said offhandedly, her words getting Lightning's feathers to ruffle and to smack the blue mare in the face with her train. "You...wouldn't mind if I stole your first hind kiss, would you?" She finished after receiving the blow without flinching, a wink being sent to the mare with the cutie mark depicting a lightning bolt made of golden speckles. Lightning was glaring at the musician with a blush from behind her roommate, stepping out from behind Moon to spread her wings and train out to their full grandeur so she'd appear more intimidating. "Is that a maybe?" Minuette asked with a suggestive smile.

" _'A_ _ʻOLE_ " Came a Haywaiian female voice from the second story, one level beneath them, followed up by a teal pegasus with a six foot wingspan and forked tail feathers. "He 'oe Kahi, e hiamoe ana?! Pehea e oe e manao ana?! He 'oe ma lalo o ka mana' ölelo kupua?!" The Haywaiian pegasus said with her paws on Twilight's shoulders. In place of eyes were blue sapphires, her mane being braided in a Prench fashion was a beautiful melding of gold and brown with numerous flower blooms woven within itself and adorning her frontal body was a Equestria University jacket with the colors of Celestia's mane and the night.

"KP," Twilight began, her Haywaiian friend's interrogating making her feel like a cornered rabbit. "I'm fine! Crumble hasn't bewitched me or anything like that. We've talked about marriage these past few weeks and, since I agreed to his proposal, we both think it's the right time. Also, I'm expecting and getting loud with me isn't a good idea."

"Ko'u hewa." The mare said apologetically, moving away from the engaged unicorn on the counter. "Pehea ka mamao a'o'oe?"

"I'm nine months along, Kai Papaya, with twins!" A serene, practically glowing smile crossing Twilight's face. Gasps of pain could be heard from Cauldron who was climbing the stairwell slowly, the air in his good prosthetic hissing as it was pushed out of its pistons, close behind him being an early Lemon Heart. "I thought you said it would take you a few hours, Lemon Heart?"

"I did," They said, magically pulling along Twilight's fiancee when his other leg gave out underneath his own weight. "But an old friend of mine gave me some blueprints from a project she hadn't had the time to start. Fortunately for us, she was kind enough to send me a copy of the blueprints, and with all of the stuff I found on the ground level I'll be able to make Cauld a new, fully functioning pair of prosthesis!" Finishing with a smile, they teleported downstairs before returning with several boxes of random junk the friends had gathered for the scrap inventor to build Twilight's fiancee new prosthesis.

"How long will it take, Lemon Heart?" Twilight asked simply, getting the non-binary unicorn to nod their head a few times before answering.

Looking to the clock calculatingly, Lemon Heart said, "An hour at least since I don't know what all you've brought or how well those things in these designs. I'll start working on it-" Their's and Twilight's stomachs growled in sync, getting them both to blush embarrassingly at the sound. "After I eat something, of course." Cauldron's groaning got his bride-to-be to give him puppy eyes, his eyes clamping shut and his head turned away to resist her charms.

"No! I won't cook for more than one, Twili." He said firmly, getting her to start whining like a baby. " _No!_ I'm going to cook for you only, and everypony else can fend for themselves." Whining even more, Twilight heard her groom-to-be growl at his inability to resist her, getting her to smile at her growing victory. A few more moments of whining, a few more moments of his body shuddering in waning constitution against her charms before he finally conceded. " _Fine..._ I'll cook for everypony, but just this once."

"Maikaʻi loa!" KP said ecstatically.

"Wonderful news, Cauld." Lemon Heart chuckled, patting the engaged, sour-faced stallion on the back proudly.

"Thanks, Bub."

"You're awesome, Bubbling..."

"Thank you for your hospitality, Cauldron"

"Yeah yeah..." He muttered, coming into the kitchen, passing his lover before her cleft hoof landed on his shoulder. "Yes?"

"Thank you, Crumble." Twilight said softly, briefly kissing him on the lips. "You're the best." He grinned at her praise, nuzzling her before putting on the chef hat and apron he kept in the kitchen as Lemon Heart moved the pregnant mare off of the counter.

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! It's been...interesting. Procrastinating this part of the story's been easy, and finally tackling it's weird as well as relieving. I've been so ready to traumatize Twilight more than she is, but...after I started writing her up and giving her a coltfriend as well as friends, it became harder and harder for me to bring myself to ruin her life. Doesn't mean I'm not gonna do it, just means it's gonna make me feel sick to my stomach or wanna stop writing for a little bit. However, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna keep writing this story.

Anyway, Twilight and Crumble's relationship is...fun to say the least. Both are socially awkward, first-time lovers who've never had crushes that were reciprocated. To them, this is love at first sight, and that's alright. They get along nicely, share interests and want to feel true love so their professing of love isn't unheard of. In your first relationship, everything's new and wonderful and you're in love for the _first time!_ Unless you don't break up, you soon discover that love's temporary or at least wonderful but imperfect. With that in mind, their relationship might be rather quick on the uptake, it's still a solid relationship.

Their friends are all based on canon characters, but they're either one-time only or constantly shoved into the background. Moon Dancer and Lightning Dust have only one episode while Lemon Heart and Minuette are reoccurring background placeholders for new, original, in-depth characters. Hasbro has only so much money being made off of merchandise and only so many creative people behind it, so they have to cut corners with not only their characters but also their animation. That's why, if you pause scenes with crowds or multiple ponies in one general area, you'll see the same pony in multiple places. In the second half of the pilot episode there were about six Amethyst Stars.

In order to make these characters memorable and feel fresh, I took some creative liberties on their designs, backgrounds and personalities. Lightning Dust's the survivor of a twin birthing gone horribly wrong, resulting in her already peafowl-like qualities to be emphasized by her two big wings and asymmetrical smaller wings. Moon Dancer's a pretty mare who has to hide her eyes so she's not constantly bothered by flirts who just want to gawk at her and her large, powerful, attractive wings. Minuette's a soul shriven musician, incapable of experiencing certain emotions or comprehending certain mentalities. Lemon Heart's a non-binary inventor whose strokes of genius are affordable and effective due to using junk to create masterpieces. Kai Papaya, my version of IlikeKimPossiblealot's OC, is a Haywaiian pegasus attending classes at a university which prevents her from visiting her friends regularly and is suspicious of Twilight and Crumble's relationship in terms of its validity.

With how canon presented Twilight in the pilot, we're lead to believe she's a workaholic who avoids others because she wants to please her teacher and then the folks 'hind the show go and give her a friend from before the start of the show! _DID THOSE FUCKS WATCH THE PILOT EVEN ONCE?!_ Sure, granted, even socially awkward or socially unacceptable individuals have someone they call friend or lean on as we're social animals and _must_ be around other animals to retain our sanity. Same goes for equines. They're herd animals, meaning they live in groups consisting of family and close friends they'd die to protect. Now, Twilight's isolating herself could be attributed to depression or some form of mental degeneration, but we're lead to believe she's mentally and emotionally stable.

Giving her a friend isn't the issue, I'm fine with that plot twist of her forgetting about her friends in her old home after shit's gone down numerous times, but she's stated in the show that she never knew the value of friendship until coming to Ponyville and meeting the rest of the Mane 6. Let's say you're talking about something important to you and something in your past pertains to that topic, you're most likely going to remember that something to some degree! When she said that Shining was her _only_ friend while in Canterlot, she'd at least vaguely remember Moon Dancer, Minuette, Twinkleshine(She'll come into this story later, don't worry) and Lemon Heart and start wondering about these vague memories. Spike didn't correct her, either, so it's obvious that he only remembered in Mending Fences because of plot and not because Moon Dancer or the others were actually relevant to the progression of Twilight's character.

Now, I understand that they had to retcon Twilight's 'loner' status in order to create revenue with a new toy and they wanted to justify their opting for a Twilight recolor instead of a new, original pony model but...AAAH! I enjoyed the episode, don't get me wrong, but the episode's a hole in Twilight's character! Because the team behind the show can't go back in time to 'fix' what they'd 'fucked up', they had to say that Twilight's just a shitty friend around ponies she's known since she's a kid and is only a good friend to ponies she meets after a dangerous experience. Mmmmmmm! The episode's entertaining but, it's a bitch to watch from a contextual place for me. Not sure if that's everybody, but it is for me.

Anyway, I made Moon Dancer a canon character despite my view of her would make most think I'd keep her out entirely, because I liked the idea of Twilight having friends and losing touch with them after lots of shit happens in a short time frame. In this story, Twilight's surrounded by ponies similar to herself in their uniqueness and difficulty fitting in. The higher the IQ, the lower the EQ and vice versa. That's why Twi, Lemon Heart, Moon Dancer and Crumble are friends: they're smarter than the public in their respective areas and thus don't fit the 'model' citizen. They're friends with Minuette, KP and Lightning Dust because they're unique and suffering from the short end of the metaphorical. Large wings are admired in Equestria as large breasts are admired IRL, meaning Moon Dancer and KP are in the same boat while Lightning Dust's status as Moon Dancer's roommate would mean they spend a lot of time together when they're in their room and will develop a relationship of some manner. Moon Dancer would introduce the ostracized pegasus she shared a room with to her friends, making her friends her friend's friends, explaining why Lightning Dust's our couple's friend.

KP is a pony from a group of island territories that Equestria holds control over, and since she doesn't speak the country's general language of Equish for shit, she'd need to be friends with ponies who aren't just trying to drool at the sight of her large, sensitive, erogenous wings and can understand her. Twilight loves learning new things and enjoys a challenge, a new language fits that and a pony foreign to the mainland would have knowledge that's new to her world, so she'd obviously jump at the chance to make a friend who's unique like KP. Minuette's soulless, musically inclined and an earth pony in _Canterlot!_ Let that sink in: an earth pony is able to live amongst the stuck up, unicorn bigwigs and celebrities! Now imagine how she feels, shunned for her social inabilities and her curious condition and a commoner among nobles! Twilight likes making friends, true, earnest friends, and seeing as this mare's friendless, in need of help and special in ways she can learn from, she'd take Minuette in a heartbeat!

Living in a tower, there's probably a lot of space and most likely not a lot of stuff a couple of expecting, teen parents have to keep a baby dragon occupied...It's no surprise Spike's staying with his grandparents who don't hate his guts. Not a lot of questions I can think to answer, so (As Always: Thanks for bein' here, R&R, _please review!_ , no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)


	15. Trouble at home

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! As much as I want to procrastinate and delay the inevitable, I can't but I can make the inevitable sting even more. So I'm gonna indulge in some flashbacks and origin stories for a chapter or two. Pinkie, anything to add?

Pinkie: *Scratching her chin thoughtfully* Not enough DJPon3 or the Rainbow-licious Rainbow Dash.

Duly noted. Oh, before I forget, I lied about something but ya'll will notice when ya see it.

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

Written documentation

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

"Lunch was amazing, Crumble!" Twilight complimented, giggling at her fiancee's sour face. "Don't be like that, dear. You've a talent in more than just the occult and supernatural, and we're just appreciating it."

"I'd rather it be only you who enjoys my cooking, Twili." Cauldron responded with a frown that Twilight tried to rectify by manipulating her hooves to bring the corners of his mouth upwards.

"Tell you what," She began compellingly. "After we get married and after our babies are born, your cooking will be complimentary to our family and no one else is allowed to taste your culinary splendor. That sound good to you, Crumble?" Receiving a nod, she trotted away on shaky legs with Moon Dancer and KP at her sides in case she couldn't keep a steady flow of magic to the muscles in her legs. "You can start working now, Lemon Heart. Make sure he can walk down the aisle in one piece!" Her words, being heard by the inventor, got said unicorn to grin giddily at the prospect of fulfilling their fellow inventor's masterpiece.

Cauldron, limping over to the makeshift workbench they'd made a pair of broken church pews held sawed-off back to sawed-off back, laid down and groaned at the feeling of having his prosthetic legs removed. "Be honest with me, Lemon Heart," He began quietly, staring after his marefriend-turned-fiancee dreamily. "Will this hurt?"

Before answering the stallion's question, the inventor stood up from removing the prosthesis they'd created, they looked between Cauldron and Twilight as her strides became smoother and more stable. "That depends on what you're referring to, Cauld. Are you talking about your new prosthesis or," They stared blankly at their favorite, _only_ patient for any reaction. "Are you talking about marrying Ms. Sparkle?"

"..." The silence between them was a familiar one, their relationship being an awkward one due to Cauldron's inability to determine their gender and whether or not he should ask them. But this time it wasn't about their non-binary status, this was about him asking them for advice in a matter they didn't dabble in. "I'm not sure..." Cauldron admitted, the look in his eyes telling Lemon Heart all they needed to know.

Sighing, the inventor brought up measuring tape to check if the stump of their patient's leg had changed in dimensions since they'd last done anything with his prosthesis, saying as they did so, "Your heart's saying yes but your head's saying 'I don't know', isn't it?" A small, meek nod answered the engineering prodigy who groaned. "This isn't my field, Cauld, you know that. Why are you asking me? I've known you only a month more than Ms. Sparkle and that's because our lockers were next to each other's in C.S.G.U. My specialty is mechanisms, gadgets, triggers, and the like, so I'm not one to ask about this."

"I can't _ask_ her! If I do she'll think I'm having second thoughts or she'll change her mind and say she doesn't want to marry me!" Beginning to list off other possibilities, Cauldron suddenly felt the cylindrical fixture in his right leg clasp to the rotation adapter of his new prosthetic, the feeling of an internal, hellish sting getting him to gasp and yell in pain. "SON OF A BITCH!"

Twilight's voice could be heard from their bed-'room', the unicorn stallion and non-binary inventor looking towards the bed near the large window overseeing the balcony. "Language, Crumble! Language."

"IT HURTS!" His response got Lemon Heart to twist the attachment fixture sharply, the result being a yelp of pain. "FUCK!"

"Language!" Twilight's statement got Cauldron to grit his teeth as the rest of the makeshift parts were put into place.

"Let's see here...A grab-shoe's always a plus, but it might be better if the toes aren't retractable and probably more efficient if they're not so flimsy." Lemon Heart said to themself, placing the piece at the end of a spring piston. "Now a frame to protect the delicate internal machinations. We've got plastic leg guards from a hoofball game and a couple leg braces from the hospital. How did all of you get these?!" They demanded confusedly, shaking their cleft hoof at the females in jealous indignation. "I've been begging them to give me their junked equipment!"

Moon Dancer shrugged nonchalantly, the blank look on her face making Lemon Heart glare at her. "Not my fault your requests raise red flags, Heart!"

"That doesn't help me in any way." Lemon Heart said angrily, forming a frame around the prosthetic they'd created for their friend. "Whatever, it should be done in a few more minutes after I get a few more pieces in place." That said, they began dismantling the exterior of an alarm clock and using some of the gears as the knee between the adapter and the rest of the artificial limb. Within another box was found a demolished toaster oven, microwave, sewing machine and ceiling fan, getting Lemon heart to smirk gleefully. _This is perfect!_ They thought, their smirking gaze meeting Cauldron's nervous expression before it faltered slightly with a hoof to their chin. "Lyra's design asks for a motor, and we've got four but..."

"What's wrong, Heart?" Lightning queried, her four-toed paws like the Hyracotherium from the days millions of years ago. "Any way I can help?" Momentarily flipping the tresses out of her eye, she lifted the toaster oven out curiously.

Silence answered her, the eyes of the mechanically-inclined inventor fixated on the blueprints they'd pulled out of the pack they had on their side. "..." Eyes never leaving the blue, engineering document reproduction as if there were nothing else around them. They stared, brow furrowed, and slammed their hoof down on the floor with a vexed squeal. "Damn it!" Without another word, they flung the blueprints at the wall and stomped off, leaving an equally confused, unfinished-being-fixed Cauldron and a surprised Lightning.

Eyes flitting between the blueprint and the inventor, completely lost to what was wrong, Lightning spoke. "Use your words, Heart: Not all of us can follow or even keep up with that big brain of yours, you know?" Rhetorical question out there, she strode after the irate pony, sending Cauldron and an investigative Minuette an uncertain shrug. The yellow unicorn hadn't gone far, sounds of angry stomping diminishing as they reached the second story of the tower, getting Lightning to glide down the stairway, one foot-long turquoise wing closest to the pylon at the center of the helix-formed steps. "Heart," Lightning began softly, stumbling slightly as she landed in the library where the very walls were made of bookcases. Each shelf chocked full of knowledge put to paper with ink and literary masterpieces, it was no wonder this story of the tower was heavy with the owners' respective scents. "What's wrong?"

"It's the leg of a dog. That's what's wrong, Dust: I was going to give a crippled unicorn a pair of mechanical, prosthetic dog legs to walk on for the rest of the foreseeable future!" Lemon Heart snapped, their body once turned towards the world behind the wall made of translucent glass, jerking their head around to glare at the quad-winged pegasus. "If I didn't notice and I finished putting that together, Cauld would be walking around like he's on his front carpals! The model I was willing to make his only method of walking was designed for a completely different creature and that could damage what little's left of his front legs by bending in ways his body can't suspend itself on." Fury made up Lemon Heart's face, their pride obviously wounded by their ignorance.

"Hey!" Lightning clipped, face portraying a look of mild hurt and defensiveness. "I'm trying to help, there's no need to bite my head off. By no stretch am I a mechanical engineer or an orthotist, but I understand enough to point out that what you just said doesn't make any fucking sense." Her words, clear and to the point, made Lemon Heart approach her with an indignant glare.

"Let's pretend you're Cauld in this hypothetical world where I complete those legs and don't realize they're for a dog. You'd be walking like your metacarpals had been bent in half and could only stand if you crouched so low that you're walking with your frontal body close enough to the ground for you to herniate a disc or two after being forced to live with that for a prolonged period of time. Even with the prosthesis keeping him above the ground, they're not designed nor capable of supporting the weight of a unicorn stallion his size while simultaneously acting as suitable limbs for mobility! If I switched your front legs with those of a dog, you'd be walking like a drunk with a pair of broken legs everywhere you went until you stumbled and found your eye on the business end of a table or a cart or a-UGH!" Lemon Heart's tirade was interrupted by his own groan of ire. "If I didn't notice, and he did, I'd be irredeemable as a trust-worthy impromptu orthotist. Everypony would know that not only did I made his inability to walk worse by giving him legs, but I'd be ridiculed and my permission to proceed inventing anywhere in Canterlot would be revoked indefinitely because I'm incapable of meeting the standards of numerous fields I'd have violated the procedures of!" Saying this, Lemon Heart fell to the floor on a cushion, hooves over their eyes as they moaned depressingly.

"What fields have you violated?" Lightning carefully questioned, paws softly meeting tile floor as she came to sit at the inventor's side, lowering herself to lean her head against their shoulder compassionately. "You know you can tell me anything, Heart." A silent nod answered her, relief flooding her as a result. "Then tell me what's wrong and I'll help how I can."

A loathsome shudder escaped the unicorn, the sound not unfamiliar in this situation since Lemon Heart's pride was inherently sizable and even more inherently fragile, as they removed their cleft hooves from over their eyes. "In alphabetical order, I've violated: the anatomical, biological, biomedical, biotechnological, clinical, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, epidemiological, mechanical engineering, medical, orthotic, prosthetic, psychological, sociological, surgical, and economic fields' procedures." Lemon Heart said all of this flatly, eyes pinpointing a fly on the window in front of them, practically feeling the face of shock on their friend's face. "And that's only _this_ project's probable consequences if I didn't realize the model I had been building was made for a canid patient whose body had not only been administered some form of anesthesia but had gone through proper rehab of two years."

Silence answered their statement, their point made without mentioning the probable jail time they'd have to spend for putting a crippled citizen's safety at risk. "...Can you alter the design to suit Bubbling better?" A bitter snort left their nostrils at Lightning's question, turning their head to look at their unsure friend's face with a weak smile.

"If I could without having to not only dismantle what I've prepared already-forty percent, to be exact-and start from scratch, I would have. But I'd have to have analyzed the original design in a working and non-working state so I could figure out how to change a dog's leg into a pony's leg. However," They said, their eyes falling to their hooves as they felt Lightning's paws clasp them comfortingly, patiently. "That would take about a week of watching Cauld struggle to walk around on legs that aren't proportionate to his body while he's preparing to get married next week at the Gala, and after that one week I'd need another two or three weeks to break it down and start figuring out how to make the limbs more proportionate and then- _hmmm_!" They stopped, Lightning's paw finding its place over their eyes as he sighed heavily. "Thanks, Dust."

"You're welcome." She responded simply, the only sound in the library being that of their rhythmic breathing. "Didn't you say that Bubbling showed you what happened the night Doggy-Corn attacked them?" A nod answered her. "Could you show me?" Lightning asked, placing her first and secondary right wings over Lemon Heart's body, their response being to bring themself closer to the warm, blanket-like wings with a calmed nod. A glow surrounded their horn before theirs and Lightning's eyes began to glow as well.

 **Flashback, six months ago**

Strolling down the empty, soon-to-be-demolished neighborhood's street on another date, Twilight's belly having a small, noticeable distention of 'pudge' with developing foals. "It's still hard to grasp the fact that we're gonna be _parents!_ " Twilight said ecstatically, bouncing onto her coltfriend's back to hug his neck from behind, getting said stallion to grin from ear to ear. "Don't worry, Crumble, Shining won't hurt you while I'm around." Although those were words of encouragement, they appeared to have the opposite effect of the now sweating-buckets-with-his-eyes-darting-every-which-way Bubbling Cauldron.

"Thanks for the encouragement, my dear, but I don't think he'll give either of us the option of being near one another when he decides it's time to kill me." He nervously chuckled, cerulean eyes paying extra attention on every rooftop, alleyway and open-blinders window they passed. A comfortable silence befell the two lovebirds, their surface of contact just so happening to be Twilight's six months pregnant belly and Cauldron's back letting them both feel one another's heartbeat as well as the lives being formed inside of the mare's stomach. Suddenly, Cauldron abruptly halted in front of an alleyway, backing up to hide in front of the building they stood before. As he did this, he levitated Twilight off of his back and lightly pushed her back with his hind left leg, body leaning close to the empty building's lowered-blinds window with his eyes narrowed distrustingly at what he'd seen in the alleyway. "Iryf yiy wyy irlasy!" He muttered seriously, eyes being enveloped in a soft, inky glow.

"What is it?" Twilight asked, trying to come to his side had his left foreleg not interrupted her path and carefully pushed her back.

He looked to her seriously, his eyes seeing more than natural. The world around him was made of vague outlines enveloped in smoke and rippling waves, the color being a coffee black and a star-burned red. "Sh!" Cauldron hissed quietly, glancing down to look at the baseball-sized, glowing-in-his-perspective-thanks-to-his-spell fetuses inside his marefriend's belly. His eyes softened at the sight of them and, unable to resist, he lowered himself to begin carefully nuzzling his lover's belly much to her minimal-but-noticeable annoyance.

"Crumble," She began again, calmly pushing her mildly-resisting coltfriend's muzzle away from her midsection, his face a sign of dissatisfaction with his mate's disapproval of him lavishing their future children with love. "What's going on?" Her question was answered by a sudden, loud dog's barking from the alleyway, getting them both to jump in surprise as Cauldron once more leaned against the wall with a serious look on his face.

Eyes squinting and brow furrowing, he was able to see past the building's outline and into the alleyway, the silhouette of a unicorn mare coming into view. Unable to make out the mare's features, his eyes lowered to the center of her chest where he saw a floating, grapefruit-sized orb that was the entire culmination of the unicorn's being. In an instant, his eyes flew open in fear at the way it 'sang' in his eyes and the manner in which it rotated as if in search of something. Or somepony. Suddenly, the silhouette with the orb remaining in its chest dashed out of the alleyway and right in front of them, the action startling the occult specialist enough to rescind the spell he'd cast upon himself.

The thing was, however, the unicorn's floating orb hadn't vanished from his vision, sending red flags flying inside of his mind. With no time given for either of her targets to react, the Arctic blue-coated mare in a ravaged straight jacket charged passed the stallion who'd been spying on her and skewered her horn into Twilight's left shoulder. But, she didn't stop there. Not giving Twilight the time to scream in pain, the mare twisted her head around to the right, flinging the pregnant Twilight across the street where she found her right shoulder skewered by the unicorn's horn.

"Leave her alone!" Cauldron said angrily, both his eyes and his horn glowing menacingly, getting the hairless-tailed, green-maned mare to turn around and appear in front of her other target. _SHIT!_ He thought, bracing for a horn to the face before he found canid teeth digging into his front right leg, getting him to scream in pain as he began punching her in the head and flailing his leg to make the dog-toothed mare let go. After one particularly harsh punch and flailing of his leg, the glass window's inevitable shards now embedded in his attacker's haunches and straight jacket as a result, the mare bit down and through his leg, severing it from the shoulder gruesomely.

What alerted them to the severance began with a snapping pop of his shoulder dislocating, his scream increasing in volume before the mare dug her three-toed paws into the cobbles and yanked the limb out of its socket with a gut wrenching crack of bone breaking inside of jaws. The mare, whose bleeding, glass-embedded derriere lacked any form of a cutie mark, began chewing with such ludicrous speed that her mouth was a blur as Cauldron's limb vanished down her throat before she lunged and caught his other front leg at its attachment to the shoulder. It was all so fast. _Too_ fast! Before he knew it, his other front leg was severed from his body and devoured, although this time much slower. Slow enough for every chew and swallow to be seen by the screaming stallion's wide, tearful cerulean eyes. _She's going to kill me! She's going to kill Twilight and my children! We're going to die here..._ He thought in terror, frozen to the spot he'd fallen on his face.

Fate seemed to have other plans, however, as the mare's eating of Cauldron's leg was interrupted by a blast of purple light to the stomach, getting her to spit out what she had in her mouth and vomit up what she had in her stomach. As she heaved, Twilight got a good look at the blue pony, enough of a good look to see that her cerise eyes were wide with their pupils being pinpricks compared to the iris which seemed to have spread over the sclera in an unnatural fashion. Rivets had been pounded into her knees, shoulders and fetlocks in a manner that seemed most unhealthy with how clear, epoxy-like liquid oozed out slowly with several bubbles appearing as it hissed against the surfaces it touched like it were boiling. Her tail was completely shaven, much like her head had once been with how short and even her mane was, allowing her to wag its five inches about eagerly in a canid fashion at her attention returning to the purple mare. Untended teeth that looked to have been kicked, punched and crushed into their jagged state, a number of them had noticeably been replaced with the teeth of dogs, no doubt her former victims.

Not very big, she was only two feet tall at the withers and her horn looked to actually be an assortment of jagged, broken bones tied to the top of her head with the remains of her straight jacket's sleeves into a single point. On a very minor side note, the strips, shreds and patches of fabric had been fantastically strung around her head and the bones. The end result of her 'horn' was a nasty, unsanitary promise of pain that she seemed to relish as she slunk over to the now shivering-in-terror Twilight Sparkle. In the center of the mare's chest was an eggplant-sized orb with a smokey 'tail' that lifted off of it a few inches before closing as the tip of a flame, its color being a stark white with what appeared to be purple honeycombs crusting over it in some places. Glowing from the inside, the orb shook and struggled about as if restrained, its struggle making Twilight imagine a screaming child fighting to speak underneath a deafening silence or a frightened foal trying to fend off attackers in its naivete.

Her coltfriend's screams seemed to fade into sobs, blood flowing out like a pair of fountains from his shoulders as he laid there on the ground, barely remaining conscious. She glared at the slowly approaching mare, her eyes aglow with a dim purple glow, rising to her hooves with a gasp of pain. "Ogyf yiil paeplayw, aelk La'irir zlairir ili'g!" Twilight threatened, her voice carrying in it the language of the gods from beyond the stars, getting the mare to falter in her stalking forward before smiling crookedly and barking excitedly.

" **Yiaezy yiy wfi'v oguaflalj!** " The mare ordered, dashing towards her target with great haste and sinking her teeth past Twilight's skin, into the muscle and tearing out a small chunk as said pregnant unicorn teleported to her mate's side with a gasp of exertion. However, the Doggy-corn, as that was the name that she'd been given by the ponies who saw her kill their dogs, wasn't deterred. Flooding her 'horn' with magic, she shot a bolt of energy that danced through the air like a full balloon emptying itself of air after a pony lets go of it with their hooves, only difference was that the bolt of energy pierced her right hip before arching across her plot and stabbing into her other hip. Once again, the victim of the attach hadn't had time to react until it was too late, and when she reacted she reacted badly.

A look of shock crossed her face as she fell sideways onto Cauldron's motionless body, her breath quickening as Doggy-corn approached menacingly, eyes wide and smile wider. The maniac licked her lips with a blood coated tongue, no doubt having cut herself with those wicked, unclean teeth as Twilight's heart beat in her ear from within her throat. Stomach having dropped twice the size of Celestia's sun, Twilight stared with ever growing terror as she charged magic into her horn and shot a blast of magic into the sky where it burst into an SOS for anypony who'd care.

" **Ili'g oaephy sualaylkw, ki' ili'g? Ioyirir, La'irir yiaezy foyyi lalfi' wvaeuay vaeuafw fi'i'! La'irir py ai'yiviryfy aesfyua wi' iri'lj...** " Doggy-corn said, chuckling as the epoxy gurgled in her throat before seeping out of her mouth like slobber befitting a raving beast like herself. She strode forward, her paws skidding on the cobbles a few time after wiping away her 'drool' which quickly hardened into resin on the tips of her toes, her eyes crazed and wavering every time she nearly fell. A chuckle left her throat once more, a sickly gurgling sound that started to fade away, as she slowed to a halt and began retching with the sound leaving her nose instead of her gaping mouth. Her mouth moved in the effort to speak but no sound escaped her as she continued retching, the contents of her stomach no doubt being blocked by the overflow of epoxy in her throat, before she fell on her side and started clawing at her neck.

Her paws dug into her own throat, blood and epoxy hissing out of the wound as she silently screamed out in pain, and she didn't stop tearing through her own flesh until the spurts of blood and hissing epoxy left a masterpiece of splatter that any artist would call brilliant sans the circumstances. What remained of her throat was a disgusting display of visceral carnality, half of her vocal cords hanging uselessly from the base of her head while the other half flopped into the growing well of epoxy within her bodily cavity. The sound of hissing and the sight of third degree burns forming on the abomination's hollowed out neck, the insides of which was riddled with some form of fanged worms which writhed in and out of her body cavity to poke out of her neck to screech an unnatural sound between a squeal and iron nails against a chalk board.

The monster looked to Twilight with a mad smile, jagged teeth fighting to separate as the epoxy seemed to be curing into resin at an inconsistent rate, before she was engulfed in an inferno of bright and furious cinders, courtesy of the soon-to-be-crowned Princess Sunset Shimmer. After the flames faded, the lack of screams causing the death to be even more horrendous than a regular one if that was possible, what remained of the infamous Doggy-Corn was a fair amount of charred flesh, shrieking lampreys and a pony-sized glob of varying liquid substances. "You alright, Twi?!" Shimmer demanded, voice filled with concern and fear, receiving no response as she came over to find both victims were unconscious. " _SHIT!_ "

 **End of flashback**

With the spell fading and their mood calmed, Lemon Heart rose from their spot in front of the window, causing Lightning to fall on her side from leaning against the yellow unicorn, and strode up the stairs carefully to return to their work. "What's wrong, Lemon Heart?" Cauldron called over, suspicion in his voice as well as a groan at being left helpless on a bench.

"The blueprints are for a dog's leg, meaning this design won't work and we'll have to wait a few weeks-" Finding a hoof over their lips, they found Twilight at their side with shaky legs. She removed her hoof from her friend's mouth, turning her eyes to those of her mate.

"Crumble," Twilight began, shakily coming to lay on the bench beside her fiancee. "Do you think you'll mind walking on dog legs for a while?" She received a silent shrug, getting her to nuzzle against him happily while looking Lemon Heart dead in the eye. "Then we shouldn't have a problem as long as you make the legs long enough for him to walk. So long as he can walk down the aisle, I don't think we'll mind. After the wedding's over and we get me set in the maternity ward in the hospital, you can tinker with his legs all you want because by that time, we won't have to worry about anything major afterwards."

Lemon Heart made to interrupt before they received a glare from Twilight, her mind clearly set on having her wedding next week at the Gala, shutting them up immediately. Remaining silent after glaring at her friend, Twilight smiled and began nuzzling her mate, content to merely enjoy his presence at her side. There was a noticeable silence as the mare cuddled her mate before Lemon Heart returned to work, doing their best to make adjustments where they could to the design to make it easier on the stallion in the room.

"Hey, Twi, mākou e paha hoʻomaka huli no kou kapa komo!" KP said, coming out of the kitchen with a plate of pineapple slices, mouth full of fruit as she spoke with giddy in her voice before she stuffed her face with more citrus after swallowing. The cuddling Twilight chuckled at her friend's statement as well as the looks of excitement on Dancer and Lightning's faces before she shook her head.

"No," She began, laying her head down on the bench with a grin. "I already have somepony in mind for dress prep..."

 **In Ponyville**

Rarity, eyes transfixed on a needle and thread diving through a puce fabric thanks to her use of magic, was almost finished with a custom order for a patron of her boutique. Said building was a brilliant assortment of blues and violets, the diamond motif on her haunches made apparent on every support beam with the paper being patterned like the scales on an alligator's back, and had more than a few rolls of fabric held above the curtained windows like banners of various nations. The floor was carpeted with a fuchsia rug in the center with the rest of the floor being a crystalline tile, each one being intricately carved by the aspiring masons and sculptors of Ponyville.

Standing around her like a ballet of still, life-sized figurines on metal rods were mannequins, each one of an androgynous middle ground between stallion and mare in dimensions as well as appearance. With a wiping of sweat from her brow, Rarity pulled out the thread and bit it off before wrapping it around one of the mannequins to see how it looked. It wasn't too bad for her first winter jacket, the general look of it being that of a cozy curtain-like blanket with a zipper in the front and a hoof behind the neck. A sigh of relief escaped her as she sat down, "Phew! Note to self: do not agree to make winter apparel until stocked on pillow stuffing, lest we struggle to finish an order. End note."

A knocking at the door got her to sigh, climbing to her hooves before trotting to her front door with the jacket in tow. "Letter for Rarity Belle." Came the voice of Ponyville's mailmare, getting Rarity to return the jacket to its place on the mannequin.

"I'm coming, Ditzy!" Rarity chimed charmingly, cantering over to invite the wall-eyed mare into her abode. Opening the door, she found a blast of wind blowing Ditzy's long, golden mane into her face. "Wooh!" Came the seamstress's surprised yelp, getting the gray mare to stop flapping her five foot long wings with a friendly smirk at the now frazzled mane of Ponyville's favorite craftspony.

Chuckling good-naturedly, Ditzy said, "You really shouldn't leave yourself open like that, Rares." The mare in question huffed with a slight pout at the older pony, glaring heatlessly at the former Wonderbolt.

"It's not like I'm training for war, Ditzy. With that in mind, I don't have to worry about somepony coming at me with malicious intent as I'm perfectly innocent!" Rarity said proudly, hoof on her chest as the mailmare rolled her right eye, the mailmare's left eye wandering with Rarity while she lead her into the boutique.

"Yeah yeah," Ditzy moaned in mock exasperation. "Tell it to somepony who cares. Anyways, got a letter here for you from a 'Twilight Sparkle' in Canterlot." Having pulled the letter out to read the name, she stopped a rather excited Rarity from snatching it out of her paws with a slap to the cleft hoof, receiving a slight moan and pout from the younger mare. "No stealing from the mailmare, Rares, unless you wanna serve time in holding for the next week and a half."

"But Twilight's my best friend, Ditzy, and we haven't talked in the past three months since she told me she's moved in with her coltfriend. I'm _dying_ to know what's happened since then!" Rarity pleaded, cleft hooves held together in a begging gesture as she fell onto her haunches, eyes closed and teeth grit as she did her best to coerce the former brigadier general. Said pegasus didn't bat an eye at the antics of the fashionista before her, opening the envelope and pulling out the letter before silently reading it with slowly widening eyes in horror. "What is it?!" Rarity demanded, coming to Ditzy's side before the mare's wing interrupted her, getting her to glare. "What's wrong, Ditzy?!"

A shrug answered her, "I dunno, I'm just shocked that there's a pony with this kind of penmanship in Equestria." The face of shock and anger on Rarity's face received a busting-of-a-gut from Ditzy Dew. "Anyways, that's the last delivery of the day so I'm going home to Dinky and Sparkler."

"So long, Ditzy!" Rarity waved offhandedly, not even noticing as the door closed behind the mailmare as she read the letter.

Dear Rarity,

I hope this letter finds you well. It's hard writing while most of my magic is focused around my babies, so I hope you can still read this horror of a letter I've written with my mouth.

Rarity's eyes were squinted as she did her best to make out the nightmare of penmanship before her. The paper was lined but that didn't help since most of the lines had been crossed over with arches and dashes of what appeared to be the boundaries of letters, making the fashionista grimace in mild-disgust at the idea of holding a pencil in her mouth like an animal. _Poor Twilight must have splinters on her tongue even now!_

That aside, I'm going to be getting married in a week and would like to formally invite you and Rainbow Dash to my wedding with Cauldron! Normally, the planning of a wedding is month's in advance, but Cauldron and I've talked it over and found that neither of us want a big, pompous wedding like nobles do. What we want is a small gathering of friends and family to celebrate our union, so we're having it the same day as the Gala so we can have a party at the noble party in the castle. Please bring Rainbow and Tank, Spike's been rather lonely at my parent's place and I think he could use a playmate or two while the grownups are having a party.

Tapping her chin, Rarity chuckled at how she could tease Rainbow about the possible implication of the pegasus being immature.

Not much else for me to tell you besides the fact that I'd like you to make me a wedding gown.

Sincerely yours,

Twilight Sparkle

Barely able to contain herself, Rarity shakily folded up the letter and returned it to its place in the envelope before opening the box holding her crown to place the magical ornament over her brow. Closing the box, she strode out the front door to her boutique, coat hardened and more reflective than a mirror as she turned the sign in her door window to closed. _I have to get to the library..._ She thought seriously before whinnying loudly and taking off at a full gallop to the Golden Oaks Library, passing by several townsfolk she'd known most of her life, the ground breaking under her hooves in areas with the calls of indignant carter pullers hardly reaching her ears as she found a lightning bolt striking right in front of her. "What the bloody Hell?!" She yelped, getting her answer in the form of a banged up Rainbow landing at her hooves with an equally beaten up pegasus named Thunderlane landing atop the blue mare.

His coat was a grayish-magenta color, his Mohawk was a grayish-cyan color with lighter streaks going through it in a manner similar to the Royal Guard's hairdos, and one of his golden eyes were swollen from the beating he'd obviously received. One of his paws was smashed flat and useless, hanging from his leg limply in a way that hurt if his wincing was any indication, while his left wing had been snapped as it leaked blood down his feathers from what looked to be more than a couple bite wounds. Short, white-and-blue-feathered tail now with several less feathers than Rarity had seen him flashing before, and his thunder-cloud-with-a-lightning-bolt cutie mark was marred with claw marks and fanged bite marks.

Rainbow wasn't much better, her ribs broken and her breath labored as the sound of pained, barely noticeable chirps came from within the library. Rarity's eyes widened as the pieces fell into place, running passed the feud to burst through the door of the library to find Tank was sprawled on the ground, beaten and bruised to the point his breath was ragged and his voice was fading. Her coat, once shiny and lustrous, blackened to the color of a moonless midnight while the gem in her crown turned a brilliant white in contrast to her dark body. "Tank," Rarity said, gently lifting the wounded cockatrice chick onto her back. "I'm going to take you to Fluttershy's cottage while your mother deals with Thunderlane. Do you understand?"

A weak nod answered her with a hardly audible cluck of confirmation, the sound of Rarity's hooves meeting wood as his eyes slowly closed, breathing tired and shaky. Stopping the fashionista from leaving the library, Thunderlane accusingly asked, "Where are you going with that thing?" He wasn't even given the courtesy of an answer from the Crystal Pony as she slowly sashayed passed him on gingerly-placed hooves, getting him to move to grab Tank's scruff before he found a set of savage fangs enetering into and out of his shoulder repeatedly. The squeal of pain that left him was followed by more than a couple cheers from the crowd that had formed in front of the library, getting Rainbow to drag him out into the open by the ear to give the crowd a show.

Spitting out the bastard's ear, Rainbow snarled out, "You hurt me...you hurt my _son_! I'm letting you leave this place with your stallionhood intact, you son of a bitch." Her threat was emphasized by the narrowing of her feral eyes and the baring of her blood-dripping fangs, getting the stallion to bow his head in fear momentarily before he made to take to the skies only to painfully remind himself that his opponent had snapped his left wing. Before he had time to react, Rainbow leaped onto the stallion's frontal body and began tearing her claws into him as she started biting into him at random intervals, preventing Thunderlane from fighting back when he found a claw embedded in his face from a punch.

Once more he squealed in pain, garnering an uproar of cheers from the crowd who liked Rainbow and had hated the stallion's influence on her recently. However, the cheers were short-lived because he dug his blunt teeth into her shoulder and forcibly ripped her off of himself, allowing him to tackle her onto and begin punching her randomly with his remaining eye. Up above began stirring thundering, black clouds in a dangerous reflection of Rainbow's even more volatile mood but nopony noticed, too focused on the fight to care about the striking lightning and rain beating down upon them.

When an especially powerful, thunder-clap-sounding punch landed on her chest, the sickening sound of a crack resounded through the surrounding area followed by a pained scream from the Thestral on the ground. A victorious smile came onto Thunderlane's face, lowering his head to kiss her lips despite the weak moan of resistance. "I told you, Dashie, I'm in charge of everything about you. Now, get up and you can apologize to me by taking me out to dinner." His words made the faces of several townsfolk grimace in disgust, their faces being met with a challenging scream from the thunder-inclined stallion, cowing the crowd from speaking up. Some members of the crowd cheered for him, applauding his victory over the 'freak' laying on the ground, getting Rainbow to silently, weakly glare at them.

Limping back into the library, he didn't worry about Rainbow as everypony in Ponyville knew she was too resilient to die from this feud. _Why'd I have to choose him?_ Rainbow asked herself tiredly, too tired to notice how her exhaustion started to fade with every drop of rain falling on her body. _Why'd I have to choose him of the few single stallions in Ponyville?!_ She demanded herself, her body rising with a groan as every drop of rain fell onto her, healing her spirits while the crowd dispersed with the growing storm above. _Am I going to be stuck dating this asshole...How am I supposed to tell him no when he beats me like I'm livestock?_ Her queries weren't answered. How could they, when the only pony who knew was her and yet she was completely clueless to the very things she knew.

The humiliated mare stumbled towards the general direction of Fluttershy's cottage, Tank's scent thankfully not being drowned out by the drizzle just yet, allowing her to follow the path Rarity had taken her son. _I'm coming, Tank. Everything will be okay...I promise. After I figure out how to get rid of Thunderlane, I think I'll stick to flirting with mare's._ She bitterly chuckled at her own inside joke, regretting it immediately as she crumpled to her front knees in order to place a paw over her broken sternum. Painfully rising back to stand on her paws, she slowly strode into the grove before feeling all of her energy sap away as she fell on her side in front of the bridge over the brook in front of Fluttershy's cottage.

Time faded away as her eyelids fluttered shut, leaving her half aware of everything around her as she heard frantic voices. Her eyes struggled to open, barely reaching a half-lidded state, the colors around her merging and vanishing with haste she could beat in a heartbeat had she felt better. No thoughts swam inside her head, all she knew was that her body hurt. Her chest, her wings, her legs and, most importantly, her heart hurt like there was ice encroaching on every inch of her being. Fighting to open her eyes all the way, she lost the battle and fell into the colorless silence that offered a safe place from the loud and bright pain that the world was made of.

Everything faded from her being. Her favorite things. Her family. Her friends. Her job. Her life. Her _name!_ These things were unnecessary here. No use in having something she didn't need. The only thing she had left was her gender and her slowly fading pain, but even that seemed to be losing its relevance the longer she stayed here. What was the point of hurting, anyways? Did it really make anything better? If it did, than why did it hurt? Shouldn't betterment not hurt at all instead of hurt more? These questions swam around her, flowing passed her and over the amorphous thing she was.

Where had she gone wrong? Did she ever do something right? Where did she live? So many disjointed questions began surfacing around her, less in her head and more in the silence around her in the feeling of colorful ripples. Why wasn't she here more often? Why hadn't she lived here, in the colorless silence? It was so calm, so free of the strife that life had thrown her way. _No, life didn't give me pain._ She thought, a sound she hated hearing in the safe calmness around her but couldn't stop herself from allowing to exist. _I brought that into my life, not the other way around._ Her thoughts echoed in the colorless silence, a color surfacing in the sensation of ire. _It's not my fault that it's cruel._

"Rainbow," Another sound! Why wouldn't all of the sound just go away?! Couldn't they tell her big ears were tired? "Wake up!"

'Wake up'? Why did something need to wake up? And that word; 'Rainbow'...It sounded familiar, but it didn't matter. Focusing on the silence, the pain diminished once more, getting her to smile serenely when she heard yet _another_ sound. This one was different, however. It wasn't a collaboration of sounds in the shape of words that she recognized, no, it was a sound she'd come to recognize as the sound someone important to her made. _What's that noise?_ She questioned, hating the sound of her own thoughts once more, making the color of ire grow into a brighter color that she recognized as anger.

Once again she heard it, this time recognizing it for what it was: a kee-kee-run sound followed by a rather worried yelp. That made something inside of her stir, a color she didn't recognize at first until it became brighter. It was the color she'd felt before falling into the once colorless silence. It was love, the feeling that had lead her to tolerate the pain Thunderlane had placed on her recently and had made her take it in exchange that Tank was left alone.

 _Tank!_ She thought, brightness slipping through the colorlessness to glimmer at her daringly. Whatever made him yelp was important, after all, he didn't yelp for Rainbow unless he was afraid. _Rainbow?_ She queried, no longer angry by the sound of her own thoughts before it struck her. Knowledge and images she recognized as her memories that began to shape her. Hard bones began to force their way out of her amorphousness, forming the skeleton of a once purely-herbivorous animal that had been given the gift to taste how the other half lived. Wings and legs sprouted from the aligning spine as sockets arose beside them, organs forming inside of the frame the bones made while muscle surrounded said framework next in a wiry mess that tangled around each space over the bones in a solid fashion she marveled at.

Pain racked her now, something smooth and pink climbing up her muscle-clad body in a way that made her thoughts scream out in protest before it vanished to leave her skin-covered with a bright coloration rising out of little holes she could-but-couldn't see in her skin. Her mouth formed a smile as she saw the colors of her cutie mark, a thundercloud that had bright lightning bolt colored like the rainbow she was named after exiting the black formation. This was her. _This was hers!_ This was Rainbow Dash! The mare who had survived raising a cockatrice chick while simultaneously trekking down a mountain without any prior supplies.

The mare who had managed to remain sane after becoming Ponyville's librarian at Golden Oaks Library where she rediscovered her love for reading! _Ponyville...Golden Oaks...Thunderlane...TANK!_ Realizing that her son was calling her with numerous, audibly tear-stricken cries, she heard her thoughts. _I'M COMING TANK!_ The brightness intensified as she made her way towards it, hearing her son from the other side. _I'm coming!_ She promised, dashing through the blinding brightness with reckless abandon.

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! Holy shit it got weird and intense in the last bit, huh? Now, it might not make sense to any of ya, but this is what happens when you're unhealthily depressed and you're half-asleep. Everything fades away and colorlessness embraces you silently, comforting you and your pain before you're pulled back by something loud and colorful! Rainbow's normally upbeat and free of these thoughts since there's no need or time for them in a survival situation, but now that she's fully returned to being a part of pony society, there's plenty of time and need for it.

Now, ya'll might wanna skewer me like a pig for givin' her a coltfriend but hear me out. She's young, single and not afraid to experiment a little bit, and since she's already figured out that she's normally attracted to mares then she decided that it's about time she gave stallions a try. Unfortunately, she picked up the wrong one for her and Tank, who she's finally come to see as a son instead of just a smart chick. Abusive and combative relationships are not only unhealthy but also incredibly demoralizing on the parties involved, as we saw with Thunderlane and Rainbow's beating of each other with Tank ending up as a casualty of the crossfire.

Abusive relationships aren't abusive at the start, usually. Normally, abusive SOs show their true colors after an amount of time spent with their SO and by that time, the receiving party's already developed strong, stubborn feelings for the fucker and can't bring themselves to get rid of the fucker. Not to mention, males are larger and stronger in just about _every_ mammalian species of animal, making it hard for Rainbow to kick his ass without getting her ass whooped. Not only that, she's got Tank to think about and she doesn't wanna accidentally drag him into that Hell, so she's been actin' like it's nothing for the past few months. Unfortunately, it turns out that Thunderlane's not fond of Tank and took out aggression on the little guy, resulting in this hot mess that we just saw.

Rainbow's a proud mare, strong and capable of holding her own, but this isn't something she's good at. She's a survivor, a bettering-herself-with-practice mother and an animal. She's _not_ familiar with ponies being kind and then turning around with a knife in hoof they place at her throat after having been nice for prolonged periods of time. This isn't her strong suit and she's paying for it/ The whole setup with the colorless silence is something that I've experienced (Minus abusive SO, mind ya'll) when I'm taking a power nap on a road trip.

The world fades away, leaving me in this colorless void of sound that's so safe and comfortable I hate waking up. However, that's just neurosis from being fucked up in the head, Rainbow's got it worse having been fine before WHAM!-getting an abusive coltfriend. So, she's struggling. Now, onto another topic that's gonna get me killed. Ditzy Dew's former military-status. I've always liked the idea that Ditzy's related to military, as it'd give her derpy character more depth than the fact that she's cross-eyed as fuck, clumsy to the point of causing property damages and so fond of muffins that the majority of 'Ask Derpy' Tumblr blogs having muffin-related questions _flooding_ the people on the other side of the screen.

I like the idea of Ditzy having Strabismus, as it explains her clumsiness and wall-eyed nature, but I liked the idea that it's 'cause of an accident that it's a thing, even more! So, I gave Ditzy a military background as a brigadier general who had an accident that gave her Strabismus, making it difficult for her to operate as an active part of the military with one of her eyes wondering at all times. Now, that doesn't mean she resigned right after the accident. Oh, no, she obviously worked with the problem for a while.

Problem is, 'derpy hooves' would be a danger to everypony in the Wonderbolts, so she eventually resigned and settled down in Ponyville to live a simpler life and start a family. Dinky and Sparkler (Named Amethyst Star by the show, but eh~) are her kids, biologically in this story. I love adoption stories, but I just don't see Ditzy needing to adopt in any circumstance unless she's barren, doesn't wanna give birth or just doesn't like the idea of raising a child from start to finish. So, they're her kids by birth.

She's a mailmare. Okay, not that much different from the show. And Rainbow lives/works in the Golden Oaks Library! This one I got the idea from Earthsong's headcanon that Rainbow's dad was a total bookworm and his daughter developed her love for reading from lots of 'Reading Wednesdays'. She's not the only pegasus in Ponyville, as there are forecasts made by pegasi all the time, so the weather division's probably full to the point it's not even funny. With that in mind, I gave her the job that was unfilled when Twilight arrived in canon: librarian. It not only fits contrast-wise, but it also fits with Rainbow and Tank's predatory nature. They're living in a cottage made from magically-fused trees and enjoy living there for a while before relocating to stop being a burden and to have a place of their own.

They'd want a place where they can hang for naps that feels natural to the both of them and reminds them of a safe place like Fluttershy's cottage. So, they find a house made from a tree that doubles as a library. Rainbow'd reluctantly be like, "Eh, it pays pretty well and I'll get to learn a few things, so it's a win-win.", and wouldn't mind it so long as she's able to support her son. After a while, however, she actually starts enjoying her job and home. Not much else to say so (As Always: thanks for bein' here, R&R, _please review_ , no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism, an' SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)


	16. The Downward Spiral

Whaz up ladies, gents an' other! I'm still not dead and I'm still writing the destruction of somebody's childhood. Last chap we saw that Rainbow's in an abusive relationship an' suffering from the after effects. Let's see how everypony else's doin'. Hasbro owns MLP and I'm unaffiliated with them to my grateful dismay. Also, I own none of the franchises I drag into this shitfest.

Pinkie: *Shaking me vigorously, her paws on my shoulders* WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO RAINBOW?!

*Throws up on her, her hydrophobic coat being soaked with the contents of my stomach and the acid within* Because I'm an evil fucker of minds and this chapter's weird.

Pinkie: EW!

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

Written document(s)

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

Coming to with a gasp and a cry of her adopted son's name, Rainbow Dash found paws and cleft hooves holding her now thrashing body down while a weight was placed atop of her, her body laid out on a layer of soft materials that she soon recognized as Fluttershy's couch after the sound of said crossbreed's voice rang in her large ears. "Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy began slowly, carefully, as Rarity removed herself from atop Rainbow's body. "You're safe. Tank's also safe, he's just outside playing with Scootaloo. I think they're playing chase."

"Yeah, they are." Pinkie groaned, strolling out of the kitchen with what appeared to be vomitis all over her underside. Rainbow, lifting a paw to whisper a question, found Pinkie glaring at her lightly. "Don't ask!" Without another word, Pinkie made her way outside and audibly splashed about in the creak to remove all of the disgusting stomach discharge from her pink coat.

Rarity, deciding to change the topic, called the youngsters in and asked, "How much longer are you going to take this, Darling?" A heavy sigh left the blue mare being referred to as she hugged her son close, as if afraid that if she let him go for a moment he'd vanish. It was in that moment that Rainbow realized the truth behind what was going on.

 _They want to help, but there's nothing they can do besides push him back before he finds his way back and starts hurting us again. If this is going to end, it has to be soon..._ She sighed again, unsure of how to answer, and remained silent in guilt, completely aware that she was above this problem but couldn't seem to bring herself to rid Thunderlane from her life.

"If you'd like, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy offered, scuffing the ground with her four-toed paw softly. "I could talk to him, maybe ask him to stop?" The other two mares in the room looked to her incredulously, the thought of Rainbow having asked clearly never having crossed the crossbreed's mind.

"Darling," Rarity began slowly, trying to tactfully phrase this. "Wouldn't that have been the first thing Dash had asked of him, do you think?" Her words got Fluttershy to nod, furling and unfurling her wings slightly with the sound of joints popping followed by relieved groans escaping the yellow mare.

Her groaning finished, Fluttershy answered, "I know she asked, but she didn't ask like I do, and no one's able to say no to me after I talk to them for a little bit." The way she said that, her words sounding as gentle as silk had an undertone of menace to them, made Rarity's skin crawl and her coat harden out of fear. Outside, the sound of another storm brewing could be heard, getting the others in the house to look to Rainbow curiously only for her shoulders to shrug with a look of as much confusion as the others.

"Not me: I'm perfectly fine right now." Rainbow shrugged again, still getting a look from Tank who clutched himself to her chest as she nuzzled him lovingly, receiving an equally loving nuzzling from the cockatrice chick.

A loud crack of thunder got Scootaloo to yelp a squealing whinny and dash under her mother, legs quivering nervously as another crack of thunder roared through the sky, getting Fluttershy to lower her wings so they touched the floor and acted as a secure curtain around her little foal. Scootaloo whinnied again, fear obvious in her whinnies for her mother to make the frightening noise stop, getting her mother to coo softly and nicker for her to come nearer. Slowly, cautiously, the filly did and found her mother's muzzle against her face, much to her relief and mild dismay if the soft giggle mixed with the look of ire were anything to go by. Fluttershy lifted her wing, letting Scootaloo know it was safe to come out from beneath her even if the loud noise came again, which it did just as the foal made to exit from under her mother, getting her to dash right back under her.

Rarity sighed adoringly at the cute display between mother and daughter, her admiration being interrupted by another loud crack of thunder from the sky above. "Honestly, what is making all of that racket?!" She demanded, making her way out of the house and out onto the front lawn next to the radishes and peas where she saw the grey stallion prancing about madly in the clouds above, his three good paws slamming violently into each cloud of water vapor stories above the sky. _Oh, this can't be good._ She thought bitterly, face a mask of disappointment and utter annoyance at this stallion's attempts to get his marefriend's attention. "Leave her alone, Thunderlane, you've won the fight!"

Voice unheard over the crack of thunder as the stallion pranced about like a mad-pony in the clouds, she glared up at him irritably. From beside her came the voice of her former teacher, Pinkamena Diane Pie. "OY, PRICK! YOUR MAREFRIEND'S IN BAD SHAPE 'CAUSE'O YOU AN' WE DON'T YOU 'ROUND 'ERE SO BUGGER OFF!" Having said that and made Rarity's ears ring, the prancing pegasus ceased his behavior to stare down at the mares with what they could only assume was a searing glare. "DI'N'T YOU 'EAR ME?! _BUGGER OFF!_ " The rather intellectual accent in her voice was quite familiar to the Crystal Pony beside her, but it seemed so unlike her to speak that way with how bubbly she could be.

"Pinkie, darling..." Rarity muttered, rubbing her ringing ears.

"Yeah?" Pinkie asked curiously, the accent never leaving her voice. "What is it, luv?"

"Why're you talking like that?" Rarity simply queried, getting Pinkie's eyes to widen in shock before she fell to the ground and began beating it.

"FUCKIN' 'ELL, I THOUGHT I'D 'O GOTTEN RID 'O THIS BLOOMIN' ACCENT! SHITTIN' BLOODY HELL!" Pinkie's shouts got Rarity to merely pat her on the back, receiving the pink party pony to bat away the gesture with a wayward paw. "Don't you get it, luv? I'm no bet'r than those pricks who drink their cuppa coffee an' tea with a snooty air 'bout 'em an' they-AHHHAAA!" She began whimpering now, her accent becoming even thicker as she punched the ground while Thunderlane and Rarity stared at her strangely.

However, three strikes on the ground were different in that they left a unique imprint on the ground. Pinkie's toes had been forming shapes with those three punches, leaving the three letters 'r', 'u' and 'n' over each other. _'_ _Run'!_ Rarity thought, understanding her former teacher's message as soon as she read it, before running back into Fluttershy's cottage and closing the door behind herself. _Whatever she's planning is going to be insane if she's flipping out like that. Better tell Dash about the wedding and get the Hell out of Ponyville._ "Dash," She called, striding purposefully into the living room to speak to Ponyville's begrudging librarian. "This might not seem like the best time, darling, but Twilight's getting married next week and has invited you, Tank and myself to attend. If we hurry, we'll be able to get to the train station and buy a ticket to Canterlot before Thunderlane suspects a thing!"

To say that Rainbow was confused, both by Rarity's timing and how this plan seemed at all possible to succeed, before finding Tank tugging at her tail enough for her to understand what he was trying to communicate. Looking between Tank, whose eyes spoke volumes of how much he wanted to leave the vicinity for a safer location, and Fluttershy who kept looking between Rainbow and through a window to witness Pinkie's distracting of Thunderlane. "Go to the wedding, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said authoritatively, her tone like that of a commanding officer in the military, giving her subordinate orders to finish their mission. "Thunderlane won't find you if I've anything to say about it."

A crash could be heard from outside the cottage followed by an equine roar of rage belonging to Thunderlane, Pinkie Pie no doubt having knocked him out of the sky with some crazy plan she'd devised. Without given time to argue, Rarity grabbed the Thestral's scruff in her mouth as Tank clambered onto her back and took off, out the back door and into the general direction of the train station at breakneck speed. Rainbow, unprepared for this series of events to occur, could only curl herself into the fetal position so as to not increase drag on her carrier as the sounds of her abusive coltfriend's infuriated screams. _This wasn't how today was supposed to go..._ She thought pitifully, her naturally small, aerodynamic body seeming even smaller as Rarity carried her like a foal.

Running alongside them was a chimerical creature seen by few sans the Everfree's inhabitants: hindquarters of a peppered stag, forequarters belonging to an ursine beast made from the dust of deceased celestial bodies, neck like that on a male lion and the visage of a sphinx. These were the physical features that defined this beast. Salted with spots of yellow and green were its ursine paws, the spots forming star shapes like those seen in the monstrous Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, while its leonine mane was as blue as could be with the wind blowing through it making it appear as if the ocean's waves were a collar around its neck. The smug smile on its face told Rarity all she needed to know, her coat hardening and reflecting the environment around her until she was nearly invisible, before its smirk grew into a sickening sneer.

Each landing of its heavy front paws was contrasted by the slight, fleet footfalls of the cleft hooves its hindlegs ended in, its loping form coming closer and closer to the trio escaping from the danger at Fluttershy's cottage. "Greetings, pony," It began, voice like that of a scholarly stallion without a breath lost as it loped beside the camouflaged Rarity. "For what reason should you run on such a fine day?" His question, although harmless and asked in a charming manner, was anything but friendly like it sounded.

"An abusive scumbag thinks every fish in the sea wants him to hurt her!" Rainbow quipped, getting a curious look from the intelligent creature.

Smiling smugly, he queried, "Was I asking you, bat-thing?" His question, seemingly without any form of malice, held the air of an arrogant beast bestowed with incredible intelligence and it knew that better than anything else.

"She can't answer 'cause she's carrying me."

"Oh," He said smoothly, the bat-winged pony barely noticing as the foliage around them became less sparse. "And why is that, bat-thing?"

The look of indignation and ire Rainbow glared into the creature's eyes was indescribable, but that look was only met with the same damned smile of intellectual arrogance. Without saying a word, the Thestral flipped out of Rarity's grasp, landing perfectly on the creature's back while simultaneously sinking her rear claws into his hide as a warning. "My name isn't 'bat-thing', Sphynx, it's Rainbow Dash!"

His smile became malformed, becoming a grimace of pain as Rainbow hopped onto Rarity's back before picking Tank up on her back and beginning to fly just above the Crystal Pony. "Well then, 'Rainbow Dash'," He said with a snarl, ursine teeth glinting in the light of the sun as it peaked through the clouds. "I shall bid you adieu!" Without another word, he came to a sudden halt and remained behind the forest's tree-line, alerting Rainbow to the fact that the train station was only a couple of miles away. Taking one, last glance into the forest behind her, the deer-like eyes glimmering back into her almond-pupiled eyes as it gave her a wayward glance before prancing deeper into the forest.

 _Son of a bitch, acts all high and mighty...I'll make him regret looking down on me!_ She thought menacingly, eyes finding their way to the swiftly approaching train station when she realized something. "Hey Rarity," Rainbow began, slightly tilting her wings downward so she was flying just above the ground beside said Crystal Pony, a suspicious look in her seemingly feral eyes. "Who's Twi marrying? When I met her, she seemed like a complete egghead, like a pony who'd rather bury her muzzle in a book than somepony's face?"

As Rainbow was saying that, Rarity's speed devolved from a gallop to a canter and finally to a simple trot over the dusty ground, getting said Thestral to slow down as well. "She's marrying the stallion she's been dating for the past year. Having moved in with him a few months ago, I'm not surprised that they're getting married." The look of surprise on Rainbow's face brought a simple chuckle out of the Crystal Empire's future empress. "Honestly darling, she's an attractive mare with an intellect to boot. I'm actually shocked nopony asked her out sooner. I wonder what she's been up to the past few months?"

Grinning mischievously, Rainbow slyly asked,"Do you have the invite with you, or will we have to fight our way into the capital to attend?"

"Dash!" Rarity declared, coat becoming murky all of a sudden as forgotten murderous intent stirred within her soul. "We're not going to become criminals just because of a small slip up, darling. Besides, I did bring it, but that does remind me that I need to grab a few things. I'll be back, darling!" Finishing with a beaming smile, she teleported to Carousel Boutique. Within stood the mannequins like petrified dancers on stands, partaking in a disorganized and unfinished-yet-not-even-begun ball, silently awaiting to be garbed in the fashionista's masterpieces. Having teleported in the center of her boutique, Rarity flipped the curled lock of hair out of her face to stare proudly around her. _I really am good!_ She thought proudly, looking down at the haze beneath her that formed a magic circle, the knowledge that she'd placed it there and once more used the spell properly making her chest swell with hope for her skills to become more than they were at that moment.

Climbing the stairway to her sewing room, she chipperly trotted over to the table at the far wall where, underneath the table itself, her portable sewing machine and the supplies case she kept near it. "I wonder what kind of dress Twilight wants? Maybe something formal, like a ball gown or a princess dress? Or perhaps she wants an A-line or a slip dress?" Teleporting back to the train station with her necessary equipment, she grinned at a bored-looking Rainbow. "Let's buy our tickets and go!"

 **With Spike**

Dear Spike,

I regret to inform you that there's been no sign of the Draconequi since their conception sans Discord, who now serves as a magnificent garden ornament. I will keep you informed on the findings of our researchers. Until then, I must return to my royal duties.

Yours truly,

Queen Celestia

Reading the final line of the letter, my paws crumpled the parchment with rage before I incinerated with my pyric breath. _DAMN IT!_ I thought, grasping my claws on the very air in fury. _Nothing after millennia?! That's not like her. She's too gung ho to have held back this long while I'm vulnerable! What's she planning?!_ My rage, my undying rage, hadn't been quenched after millennium apart from my old foe and my weakness were never this apparent to mortals as they were now. Twilight's parents, my adopted grandparents, had given me a wide berth since I came in when the guards had forced me to leave Twilight's bedside at the hospital six months ago.

The target for this rage I felt, for this immense hatred, was none other than my brother's wife: Diamond Shiv. She'd never forgiven me-or my sister for that matter-for letting him do what he had in order to defeat Sombra, and neither had I to be completely honest. Every night I saw him atop the Steppes and every night I witnessed his mistake leave me with nothing but a simple scar while he...No matter how hard I tried, just thinking about what it did to him brought me to my knees, like I was now.

All of Twilight's personal belongings had been moved to the tower she and Cauldron lived in, where I couldn't stand stepping into without feeling like a failure as both an adopted son and a guardian. She was my caretaker, my hatcher and my adopted mother, she's my responsibility and I failed to protect her from a random lunatic made from who-knew what lab. The sunlight cascaded through the night sky of Twilight's old curtains, the warmth making my body sing with joy at the pleasantness it promised me, before I turned away from the light and climbed under her bed sheets with my fin-like ears folded pitifully. Was this really what I'd become in my old age? A useless whelp?!

"Spike," Velvet began, careful not to frighten me in my mood. "I know you're still kicking yourself for what happened, but-"

"Please Velvet," I said weakly, knowing that she'd brought some food that Nightlight had prepared for me. "Just let time do its job..." Back turned to the door, I didn't need to look to know that she'd silently teleported inside. She encroached upon the bed, coming up to lay beside me like my original mother had when I was still under a decade old, her head leaned against my own, smaller head.

"Believe me, Spike, I understand how much it hurts. The feeling that you failed somepony important to you hurts like nothing else, but let me tell you," Saying that, she sat up and brought me up along with her, cradling me against her chest like the whelp I was. "The feeling of losing somepony important to you hurts a hell of a lot worse than what's going on, here. So, if not for my sake, come out of Twilight's room and be with family..." As she said that, she nuzzled me, getting me to curl closer to her pathetically.

"But," I faltered at that, the immense desire to tell another sentient being all I'd gone through and all I'd done weighing heavily on me. "It's not just that I could've prevented her injuries. It's that so much has changed too fast! I was hatched little over a year ago to a mare who was entering high school and now, she's pregnant, living with her coltfriend and crippled!" Clutching her chest fur, I shuddered in doubt. "What do I do? I had a mother, but now...whenever I'm around her, I feel like she's never been in my life a second. If anything, it feels like you've been there more than her, Velvet." I shuddered again, my still young brain chemistry struggling to understand why the one I'd imprinted on had become so distant.

A sigh reached my ears as Velvet hugged me close, getting something inside of my stomach and chest to shift in a way I recognized from when Luna and I cared for one another. "Spike, you and I both know that she's been there from the very second you hatched. And no matter what happens, she's never going to stop being there for you. Right now, she's just getting accustomed to her new home and readying herself to give birth within the next few months. She's actually come home, asking where you were or how you're doing, for Celestia's sake!" My ears pricked up at that, having been so absorbed in my moping that I hadn't been aware of these things.

"When was she here?!" I asked urgently, clasping at her chest fur like I'd fall to my death if I let go. "Why didn't you tell me?!" She gently placed a cleft hoof on my right paw, blowing air through her nostrils onto my face in such a way that I couldn't help blowing air back.

"She was here a few weeks after she moved in with Cauldron, asking how you were and where you were at, but you were with Queen Celestia-praise be to she, divine riser of the sun-and Lady Cadence. I tried to tell you when you came home, but you didn't want to talk to anypony." Her words, calm and compassionate, rung true in my head and my heart. I hadn't wanted to converse with any sentient creature after talking with those two, their past sins matching mine in intensity, their sins making my scales sting as much as my own. "If it would help, I'll personally take you to their tower?"

Nodding vigorously, I leaped out of her embrace and opened the bedroom door with a courteous bow for her to exit the room first so as to lead the way. "Ladies first." I said, getting her to chuckle at my sudden change in behavior.

"Why thank you, Spike. Looks like Nightlight's gentlecolt lessons did their job, hm?" Asking the last part knowingly with a risen brow and a smile that spoke volumes of what she was aware of, she chuckled at the sight of my fin-like ears folding and the nervous grin on my face. "Let's be off, then. Before you hurt your paws on the cobbles, you should know it's fine for you to come aboard." With a small nod to her back, Velvet made her way to the front door and outside as I scrabbled up to ride atop her back. As we made our way through the busy streets of Canterlot, I couldn't help but admire how much of Twilight came from Velvet.

Her physique was slim, not so much so that she was unhealthy but slim enough to know that she did keep herself in shape, and curved in all of the right places in all of the right ways. Mane made up of violet and icy-white stripes, trimmed in such a way that there were tresses covering one side of her head while leaving her face untouched while the other half was comfortably exposed, with her tail being like the leaves of a well managed weeping willow in the late of summer. Her cloven hooves clopping against the cobbled street, they were the color of the purple-tinted sky during the twilight hours of the day, we strode passed several ponies of varying size and breed with the one commonality between all of them being their glares centered on me.

One glaring stallion, an earth pony with a phthalo-grey coat and a silver-blue mane, actually came up and looked about ready to kick me off of Velvet's back. "Excuse me, madam," The stallion began, a cleft hoof pointed accusingly at me, his pointing drawing attention to the suit cuffs around his fetlocks. "But I believe a scaled vermin has decided to distract me from admiring your beauty!" Velvet, the icy sapphires she called eyes naturally resembling a frozen glare, gave a quizzical look behind herself at myself and the stallion who seemed to be ogling her flank.

"It appears that he's here, yes." She said simply, voice even yet deceptively charming unlike the able-to-freeze-Hell's-fires look her eye shadow gave her. Although she wore a smile, I could feel the fire in her belly-the animal growling from behind the bars of social acceptability-and the fact I could feel it sent exhilarated chills down my spine. Her eyes met mine to convey a message, a message I eagerly obeyed by subtly-yet-noticeably moving myself closer to her hindquarters, without the stallion realizing she wasn't looking into his lustful cobalt orbs.

And, like the fool he obviously was, he took the bait. "As is my duty as a gentlecolt, I shall remove the vermin from your enthralling presence," The stallion said as he place a cleft hoof on Velvet's haunch in a way that _appeared_ to be a preparation to remove me from atop her flank, but was really just him copping a feel of her motherly hips. "Without any request for 'reimbursement'..." As he said that his hoof stroked her haunch slowly, sensually, making the fire in her belly burn hotter as I could hear the animal's growls turn into snarls.

"That _is_ quite gentlecoltly of you, mister...?" Velvet asked, turning her body to the side so that the stallion's hoof didn't leave her flank but she could look him in the eye without turning her head too far backwards.

"Hoity Toity, madam, at your cervix!" He said with an exaggerated bow, lifting his cleft hoof to shove me off of Velvet's back and onto the cobbled street. Although I made a slight 'oof' noise upon landing on the cobbles, I kept silent as I wanted to see the fruit this plan's tree bore, all the while Twilight's mother giggled like a mare in season with a hoof to her mouth and a shaking of her hips to entice him further.

Velvet slowly ceased her promiscuous giggling, she said suggestively, "You're not there, Mr. Toity. Not _yet!_ " As soon as he heard that, Hoity nickered seductively as his nostrils flared and his erection became all the more prominent, much to the passersby's displeasure before Velvet enacted the final part of her plan. When he brought himself closer, she lifted her hindlegs up onto Hoity's shoulders so that she caught his neck in between her thighs before magically flipping the both of them up, into the air, and back down into the cobbled street beneath them with a small indent in the ground forming from the force of Velvet's attack.

I stared at the gobsmacked, flirtatious stallion before I burst out laughing alongside my caretaker's mother, who lifted herself from atop Hoity's neck with a haughty, snooty and altogether classy air about her as I climbed onto her back once more. "Best. Plan. _Ever!_ " I laughed, falling forward so that I was laying belly-down on her back with my head falling over her shoulder. "No wonder nopony ever asks you out on dates while Nightlight's not around: anypony who's seen you knows how dangerous and monogamous you are-HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Without much incident after that, we arrived at Twilight and Cauldron's tower where my mood immediately dropped, much to Velvet's dismay. "Come now, Spike, it's just Twilight. She'll be thrilled to see us, you especially. When last we spoke, she wouldn't stop asking if you were available, which is quite odd considering you're hers." The moment she said the last word I deadpanned at her, getting her to cover her mouth with a chuckle I knew was good natured but couldn't help but glare at her for.

"Thanks for reminding me that I'm legally recognized as a slave, _grandmother!_ " And like that, her face changed from that of a young mare with a sense of humor to a mare who felt the years of child-rearing on her body, something she showed by rubbing her rump with a tired sigh.

"I know that I'm a grandma," She said tiredly, head lowered slight with her ears folded back, looking me dead in the eye. "But I know that my beauty isn't going to fade with time like other mares."

"Right," I said nostalgically. "You read the Krivbeknih during the investigation for the cult's base of operations! What did it tell you, anyway?" The smile on her face returned, this smile resembling that of a filly having a secret she wanted everypony to guess.

"I don't kiss and tell, Spike. Never have, never will. Now," Saying that, she opened the door and levitated me in as she strode inside. "Let's go say hi to the happy couple!"

"You bitch!" I declared accusingly, not even getting a look of faux pain from the smirking unicorn.

"Oh Twilight, guess who I brought for a visit~" She sang, trotting up the spiral staircase to the third story where a group of ponies I recognized were surrounding a table. At the sound of her name, my caretaker lifted her head to see me being held in midair by her mother via magic, a look of joy crossing her face.

"Spike!" Twilight said excitedly, clumsily making her way off of the table, falling to her frontal body before just pushing herself forward with her quivering hindlegs, making her look like she could swim on land. "It's good to see you!" As she 'swam' over to me, I stared in surprise at her eagerness to see me as well as her disregard for her inability to walk effectively.

"H-Hi, Twilight..." I said nervously, backing up before Velvet pushed me into my caretaker's body which only made me whine. Any protests I had were silenced when Twilight rolled herself onto her side and hugged me close, getting me to freeze before hesitantly hugging her back and whimpering how sorry I was for not being around. I'm not sure how long we stayed like that, all I know is that I eventually found myself curled up against Twilight's baby belly on she and Cauldron's comfy bed, where I nuzzled close to my future adopted sisters. _I'm going to be the big brother..._ I thought joyously, slipping back to sleep as my proximity to Twilight made all of my distress fade away.

 **The Dreamlands**

" **Spike,** " Said a haunting voice I recognized all too well. Lifting my head up from where I laid in the rubble of a destroyed part of the Steppes, I looked up into the sky where my saurian-like eyes befell the Thestral alicorn. Leathery wings beating down against the clouds, her mane was a lake of stars and dust with all of the colors blending together in a way that made me wonder if her mane was a galaxy itself, her clawed, three-toed paws gently making contact with my large body. " **Tis** **been too long.** " Luna said like her voice and words were written in audible satin, her muscular limbs curling underneath herself as I laid there with her now on top of me, just like the good old days in wartime.

"Yes, it has." I answered, my voice matching my size and state: war-ridden, tired, strong and-most importantly-dangerous. "How have you been, oh Usjalil di wer Welun?" A bitter chuckle escaped her fanged mouth, the reverberations going through her body and into mine in a way that shook her so the individual hairs of her smooth, soft coat found their way in between my tough scales, getting me to sigh in relaxation. "That good, huh? I guess Fate likes to deal us all a shit hand every now and again."

" **Tis the truth, Spike, but we haven't come to thou for philosophy. We've come to thou for help.** " Her words got me to quirk an eyebrow, my slitted, reptilian eyes meeting her almond-pupiled, sea blue orbs. " **We've attempted to bring our subjects to Equestria, but all efforts have failed as the spell has banished us from ever returning and we've lost our subjects in our attempts to give them the chance at a life amongst Equestrian citizens...** "

"Are they still among the living?" I asked seriously, my intent to help a close friend becoming all the more apparent, getting Luna to shrug unsure. "How don't you know, Luna?"

A snarl left her lips at that, baring her fangs at me before I growled at her menacingly in warning. Although we're close, we still pushed each other's buttons in all the wrong ways sometimes. " **That tis no longer our name, Spike! We forsook that name the moment Celestia forsook us. No longer are we Luna, we are Nightmare Moon: Queen to the Moon Ponies and Ruler of the Night! We'd appreciate it if thou wouldst address us as such...** " Growling slightly, I made to get up before finding a paw trying to push me down. " **Or thou might call us Luna if thou wishes!** " She said hastily, making me grin as I lowered myself back to my resting position.

"Never truly got over that crush, did you, Luna?" I asked with a friendly smirk, getting the Thestral to flap her wings vehemently which sent false feathers flying off of her flight appendages, much to my sorrow. "Nor have you ever stopped feeling ostracized either...Damn."

" **To answer thy question, nopony ever accepted our night except for thou and...and...** " She began to tear up suddenly, making me wince as I felt the gravity of what passed feelings I'd stirred.

"Luna," I began softly. "I know that we've a lot to catch up on, but I need you to focus and tell me what you want me to do, otherwise I can't help you." Sniffles answered me, telling me this wasn't going to end that simply like I'd have preferred, when I felt her head fall onto my shoulder as she started sobbing from all of the years of stress finally breaking free. "...It's just like the good old days..." I muttered to myself, accepting the gesture of emotional weakness and releasing a comforting growl similar to a cat's purr, the reverberations finding themselves through my body and into my friend.

 **Elsewhere, Waking World**

Fleshy, moth-like wings beat furiously against bonds not made to withstand a beast's rage as an enraged shriek left the foam-filled mouth of a strange mare, her golden coat being contrasted by the stripes of black in her straw-yellow mane, cutie mark resembling a splatter of ink with a vertical line segment being surrounded by a circle that didn't connect with the segment's sides, slitted leaf-green eyes wide with fury and zygodactyl hooves skidding across smooth stone whilst atop her head were the antlers of a blesbok. At the upper, outer edges of both ears were two cuff piercings which suited her and worked well with her plait braided mane. Another shriek escaped her as she fought against the chains and ropes restraining her. "LET US GO! Check, help me out here, would ya?!" Suddenly, one of the ropes snapped and she found herself flying headfirst into the bars of her cage, denting the bars but not breaking them as the rope repaired itself and reattached itself to her.

Below her cage sat another, slightly larger cage wherein could be seen a red stallion with a short silver mane and a forward-facing, barely-curving horn. Sanguine coat as short as peach fuzz, feet likes those of a pygmy hippopotamus in structure while remaining distinctly equine in how free-to-move the toes were, a silver mane-covered tail similar in appearance to a wallaby's with how long and muscular it was, and a set of horizontally-slitted midnight-blue orbs devoid of sclera. "We'll be fine, Epic! Don't worry so much-WE'RE PONIES TOO!" He screamed the last part, the forced smile on his face faltering as he heard the approach of hoofsteps.

Although both were malnourished, their physiques spoke of athleticism unseen in ponies of Equestria. "Are you, _really?_ " Asked a sadistic stallion, his hooves meeting the tiled floor in a calm stroll like that of an artist marvelling at their work. "Because, if you were to ask me, I'd say you're monsters failing to look like ponies. For instance, the yellow one-"

"MY NAME'S EPIC, FUCKER!" Epic shrieked, attempting to shake her cage from where it hung from the ceiling by chains and rope.

"The yellow one's wings aren't like any pegasus's wings in recorded history, legs less like a pony but more like a bird's and its horns aren't natural to pegasi on Earth, either! And you, red one-"

"My name is Check!" Interrupted Check, threateningly, his horn glowing before a tangle of wires wrapped themselves around his horn, muzzle and neck, preventing any magic from being used.

"Red one," Said the stallion, sneering at the infuriated glare coming from the unique creature before him. "You're horn, tail and legs are unlike any recognized on Equestrian ponies, either! As far as I'm concerned, you're just science projects waiting to be dissected like the rest of you." Finished speaking, the stallion strolled down a random aisle where tables held bodies atop themselves of numerous creatures much similar yet different to the two who'd been screaming. Viscera hung off of the edges of some tables while bones just fell off after too much time being exposed to the air, clattering to the floor noisily.

More cages could be seen, wherein were found numerous other creatures that screamed and begged for freedom, only receiving sneers of sick pleasure. "LET ME OUTTA HERE!" Shrieked a draconic, magenta-coated filly. Red eyes with glowing, heliotrope swirls for pupils wept naive, innocent tears. "MY DADDY'S WAITING FOR ME BACK HOME! LET ME OUT!" Her pleas fell on deaf ears as her reptilian paws reached outward, the hooved toes finding a whip cracking on them, making her shriek in pain. A long, muscular tail curled around her body in a form of comfort that seemed only natural as her more equine-pawed hind legs shook.

The poor filly's whimpers found no calming voice to wipe away her tears, and the scars from retractable scales being ripped out from her underbelly and overhide back. All that could be heard in this Hell on Earth were the cries of pained, tortured souls trapped in damnation they didn't deserve...

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents an' other! Honestly, this weird chapter felt less like a chapter an' more like a drug trip than anythin' else. Every line of dialogue felt forced as fuck, the sentence structure seemed... _meh_ an' the amount of shit goin' on's too much to keep track. So...Why the fuck am I leaving it here to be read for ya'll? I think the reason's so I can knock myself down a few pegs so I can honestly tell myself there's no pressure, that I don't have to make it perfect every time but that I should aspire for it to be good quality.

Now onto the analyzing...Where to start?! Spike's searching for the draconequi, Rainbow's bein' beaten by her coltfriend, Twi an' Spike have been distant during the time skip, Velvet fucked up Hoity, Rarity's contemplating dresses, I've whored myself out by using popular Brony OCs as the bases for my abominations of nature, an' I've dropped a shit ton of future plot on myself...

Sounds 'bout right! So...I don't know what I'm doin' right now, ya'll. It feels less like I'm writing for myself anymore an' more for the reviews. _DON'T STOP REVIEWING, K?!_ It's just...After the first five or so chapters, I feel like I've been craving the positive attention an' self-esteem boosters that ya'll make in your reviews an' that I'm becoming sloppy with myself, trying to force a chapter out when ya'll might want one but aren't asking for one. It's also probably due to the fact that I'm terrified of stories ending prematurely, and with a lot's of shit happening in the world right now...I'm kinda scared for my life!

War's looming on the horizon with Drumpf as president, more deaths happen in the home than on the road and...I want to write a great story, but I'm too scared I'll die before I do an' it's gettin' in the way of makin' good content. Now, I'm not just sayin' this so I'll get pity 'cause I know that that's part of the reason I'm even bringing this up _on_ which is basically the aspirin' author's equivalent to a pit of vipers: some'll ignore ya while other's will bite into ya an' make ya regret bein' born. But, I'm really bringing this up here 'cause I want ya'll to know that I'm sorry that this thing that ya'll seem to enjoy's becoming shit with each new update.

I'm gonna hopefully take some time to myself, think over the non-plot related shit, maybe write one of my other stories an' try to get my head back on straight so I can get back to writing for me _and_ ya'll instead of it _just_ bein' for ya'll. If ya'll review, point out what ya'll like but also what ya didn't like so I can start thinking about the story an' not the "cash" involved. All that said, (As Always: thanks for bein' here, R &R, no flamin' my ass, constructive criticism an' see ya-g'night)


	17. Pain Follows Like a Shadow

Whaz up ladies, gents and other! So, because my drive to write is focused on this story more than my others, I'll probably keep writing this story until about twenty or twenty one-ish chapters where I'll start to lose my drive for a bit. My self-esteem's been knocked down a few pegs by rereading the cringy, earlier chapters of my other stories which is great since I made a chapter for the Ongoing Slayer Wars (Shameless plugin), and since I've written a chapter for a story I've lost drive to write my desire to write for the love of it's increased. There's no curing my desire for views, since numerous stories, sub-Reddits, videos and the like have disappeared from the face of the web due to a lack of attention which got the Higher-Ups to clear the "wasted space".

Pinkie: Doesn't help that you rely on your readers' commentary to come up with ideas, either huh?

No shit, Pinkie! Anyway, it took me a while, but I think I'm ready to try writing this story for a bit. Echo, once again, your words were incredibly helpful to me. Thanks! And, because of your words, I've come up with a great opener for one of my chapters. *Sick laughter begins until I start hacking up a lung, getting Pinkie to kick me in the chest to empty my lungs* Thanks...

Pinkie: *Smiles proudly with a swig of whiskey following soon after* Welcome!

Please note that I'm rediscovering how to write again after that break, so these next few chapters are gonna feel janky to one degree or another.

Written documentation

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" That was all I needed to hear to know that my fiancee's best friend had entered our tower two days after Twili's sending the letter to Rarity's boutique. A crank of a nut was audible underneath Rarity's shriek, my ears having folded back in pain, as Lemon Heart made adjustments on my prosthetic legs for the fifth time today. "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED DARLING!" Hooffalls were heard climbing the spiral staircase at roughly thirty miles per hour, barely giving any of us-specifically me-the chance to anticipate the sudden tackling I received. "You'd best treat her right, _Mister,_ " The porcelain mare straddling me said with a glare, getting me to grimace in pain at where her front hooves had found themselves.

"You're warping his clasp!" Lemon Heart proclaimed, magically removing Rarity from her place atop of me, her diamond hard and spear-cut cleft hooves being freed from their place embedded in my prosthesis clasp. A look of anger, a foreign emotion for all of us to see, was sculpted on Lemon Heart's face as they inspected the damage Rarity had done. "Motherfucker, that's gonna change the dimensions!" Their proclamation got a still magically-held-in-the-air Rarity to look at my stumps curiously. "Now I'm going to have to calibrate everything _again!_ Celestia damn it!"

"Language, Lemon Heart!" Twili called from our bed chambers, getting the inventor to look in that general direction with a face I couldn't name the emotion of. Somewhere in between anger and guilt, but with numerous chunks of confusion sprinkled throughout the pastry I knew as Lemon Heart.

 _Shit,_ I thought with a twitch of my eye. _I'm thinking like my parents._

Turning with a huff as they inspected my stumps and, more specifically, my clasp, Lemon Heart responded to my fiancee. "My apologies, Ms. Sparkle, but I think this diamond horse has royally screwed my efforts over."

"'Diamond horse'? Oh, you mean Rarity; the mare who squealed her disbelief at my engagement?" Twili queried tiredly, awkwardly strolling down the stairs into the library with Spike and Lightning Dust at her side.

"The very same, darling!" Rarity said excitedly, a length of sewing tape hanging from around her neck as a blue, bat-winged mare and a cockatrice chick came up from the ground floor. "Huuuuuuuhhhh~SPIKEY WIKEY!" Came the white mare's squeal of adoration as she broke out of Lemon Heart's magical hold and teleported behind Twilight to wrap her arms around the whelp, teleporting back down as she rubbed her face against him like she were a filly who'd just won a prize at the carnival.

"Rarity," Twili chuckled, entering the library with a slightly more stable stride. "Please let my son go; you know he doesn't like being smothered." Her words fell on deaf ears apparently, as Spike struggled to escape Rarity's clutches as the bat-winged mare and the cockatrice chick came in after my fiancee.

"Let go let go let go! _Let go of me, Rarity!_ " Spike hissed, gas leaking from in between his teeth threateningly, getting said mare to reluctantly do as asked before the whelp came up to the cockatrice. "Heya, Tank!" A cluck answered him before they punched one another's fists lightly followed by an opening of their palms where a wad of their saliva found itself in, finishing by clasping one another's paw in the other's, they smeared their saliva into the other's paw.

"That's one way to say 'hello'..." The bat-winged mare muttered with a proud chuckle before turning her oval-pupiled eyes. "'Bubbling Cauldron', right?" I merely nodded, her magenta eyes boring into my wide-with-fear cerulean orbs like a snake does to a finch. "You look trustworthy, but just to be sure..." Opening her fang-filled mouth slightly, I saw lightning dance inside her jaws as a particularly curious length of electricity came close to Twili, getting my once frightened eyes to narrow into a glare as I teleported in the way of the current which made all of my hair go on end until I looked like I just came out of the electric chair while I laid on my face in discomfort.

"Watch where that lightning goes, Elk Nose!" I quipped, my jab at her head shape being muffled by the floor. _Damn it, that insult sucked. What did Twili say she called herself? The-...the-...Thestral!_

"You can keep him, Twilight." She said simply, hopping over me without a care in the world as she yawned and clambered up the bookshelves-more than a few tomes falling before the other serpent in our home caught and returned them-to hang from the ceiling with the cockatrice following to curl up in her embrace as soft, shuddering snores were barely heard.

"Let me guess," I began, adjusting myself so that my face wasn't pressed into the floor. "That's the infamous 'Rainbow Dash': evader of the Rainbow Factory and Cloudsdale fugitive?" A simple nod from Lightning Dust answered me as she stared up at the 'Thestral' hanging from the ceiling, curiously. Slowly, Lemon Heart brought a gas mask up to my face, the action getting me to start slightly before they showed me that it was a small canister of what anesthesia they could get. With a simple nod, they put me under the anesthesia with a spell linked to my bride-to-be so as to keep me under until the procedure was finished.

Eyelids becoming heavy, vision blurring into mere colors, the last sight before my world became black was that of my beautiful fiancee.

 **My future**

Gazing up at the ceiling of the cell I was in, the very air felt toxic in my lungs like I was breathing mercury or volcanic fumes. The sound of flesh meeting flesh seeping into my ears, I clenched my teeth until they broke, each crack hurting less than the feeling of uselessness I was experiencing. _Twili...I'm so sorry!_ I thought to myself, tears cascading down my cheeks as I flailed my stumps angrily. "LET HER GO, YOU BASTARD!" My shriek was met with maddened cackles as my ears caught Twili's crying. "YOU WANT TO TAKE REVENGE ON ME! TAKE ME IN HER PLACE, YOU _FUCKER!_ "

The slapping of flesh against flesh ceased, the only sound being the disgusting sound of rotting flesh being mashed into pulp as our captor shattered the bars to my cell in order to glare down into my tear-stricken eyes with mirth in his sneer. "Are you sure that's what you want, _old friend?!_ "

"Yes," I proclaimed, rising to sit on my haunches before turning to glare into his eyes. "I'll take everything you can dish out in exchange for Twilight's freedom!" Sick laughter left the decaying stallion in front of me, a feeling of dread and resignation settling in my stomach. "I'll take all of _THE UNIVERSE'S AGONY IF MY BRIDE CAN LIVE ANOTHER DAY FREE OF YOUR INFLUENCE!_ " I squealed, my captor's laughter stopping abruptly, the pit of dread digging itself deeper into my being as the resignation subsided in realization of what I'd just sentenced my Twili to. "NO WAIT-!" Too late, he'd already left my cell to approach Twili's, the bars to my cell regenerating as I fell to the ground uselessly. _I failed you, Twili...please forgive me..._

"Crumble..." Twili whimpered, being dragged by the suppression ring around her cracked horn, tears leaving her eyes as the flesh and maggots sloshed beneath her baby belly.

All I could mutter were the words, 'I'm so sorry', over and over with my head laid flat against the bricks where maggots wriggled about in the flesh and filth my former best friend had accumulated over the years since the day I got my cutie mark. At that moment, I'd have traded anything if I could go back in time and turn myself into the stallion my parents had wanted instead of the failure I'd become if that would've saved my bride. _Why is fate so cruel?_ I had no idea what I was in for, and I would come to regret the existence of life after my jailer came back from dropping Twili off in a hole somewhere to rot. "PLEASE FORGIVE ME, TWILIGHT!"

 **Back to the present day**

My new prosthesis twitched, rousing me from the temporary, magically-induced coma Lemon Heart had put me under for the rest of the procedure. "Will I be able to walk?" I asked drowsily, getting them to shrug hopefully.

"Get off the bench and we'll find out, Cauld." They said simply, my resulting nods being slow and tired as my bleary eyes opened to see my beautiful fiancee. Rolling over and off of the bench, I crouched on the floor as I got acquainted with my new prosthetic limbs before standing to my full stature and catching my future bride's lips in a firm lock with my mouth acting as the key. Surprise plastered on her face, it faded into bliss as we remained like that for all of our friends to see. Standing there like a pair of titans preparing to bid the mortals below farewell, our lips stayed locked together until we pulled away for air. "That's a lot better of a reaction than the first time I put you under for the procedure!" Lemon Heart joked, patting me on the back before I brought Twili into a hug.

Bringing my mouth close to her ear, I whispered, "I'm never letting anything hurt you, _ever_ again..." She nodded into my shoulder, no doubt having seen my nightmare thanks to that spell Lemon Heart had used. Nothing else mattered but my fiancee's heartbeat and those of our developing daughters, the world fading away as shapes bent and swam inside of our eyes and bones like birds through a gelatinous Eather. "They're never laying a hoof on you or our children, I promise..."

Instead of answering with her mouth, the shapes stopped bending and began quivering like the waves of sound on a boombox, her feelings apparent as light returned to our eyes and we pulled away to look at everypony before her legs gave out and I caught her with my magic. Looking at her dangling limbs sadly, Twili sighed depressingly, "I still can't take care of myself..." Lowering her to eye level, I nuzzled her cheek, receiving the same gesture but sadder.

"Alright," Rainbow Dash began, stretching her wings. "Let's do that thing Dusty mentioned!" Everypony except for the pegasi and Minuette looked to a proud-yet-blushing Lightning Dust for explanation when KP, Moon Dancer, Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash made the familiar Vee formation with the floating Twili at the head of the formation as they spread their wings.

Minuette, expression the definition of exhaustion, came up to me and said, "It's just like when you asked Kai and Moonie to help you be the wind beneath Twi's wings during rehab, Bub." Like that, a light bulb turned on in my head, as I started moving her forward with the others spreading their wings and fluttering around our large library with my fiancee leading them thanks to my control. I didn't need to see her surfacing smile or hear her giggle exuberantly with a noticeable dash of nervousness, to know that she was happier. The very air in our home had become more...warm, and 'chewy' if that would make sense, but what it felt like the most was safe and sound.

Although our tower wasn't large enough for overly complex aerial patterns, it was big enough for there to be a feeling of wind rushing through her mane and the air dancing around each strand of hair in her pelt. Her melodious laughter bounced off the walls of our home, a sound so soft and gentle it was impossible to guess it came from a mortal mare and not an angel, until my hold on her began to waver. "Sorry, Twili, but I can't keep a hold of you very well, right now." My words fell on deaf ears as I brought the formation down to the floor with my fiancee making a pouty-ish face at me cutely, her bottom lip curled underneath her upper one and puffing of her cheeks paired with a glare that told me the bed wasn't a safe place to sleep tonight. Chuckling awkwardly, I gently placed her on the floor in front of me long enough for me to start nuzzling her, of course giving her a chance that she took to catch my ear in between her teeth but I kind of deserved it since she loved the feeling of flying.

With my left ear in her teeth, she irritably-playfully quipped, "You're the one who put babies in my belly; the least you could do is make it easier on me by being the wind beneath my wings!"

"Ow ow ow!" I began, beginning to make an attempt at pulling my ear out of her teeth. "You don't have wings, Twili-YIPE!" One particularly aggressive squeeze of my ear got Spike to carefully climb up onto Twili's shoulders to start massaging her ears, her grip on my ear loosening long enough for me to pull out of her mouth. "Thank you, Spike." He nodded with a grin, focusing on his mother's ear before I came up to his ear and whispered, "When your sisters are born you'll be able to teach them how to use your mother's ears to get away with murder!" To prove my point, I went to the other side of Twili to begin sucking on her other ear, getting her to groan blissfully as I subtly nodded for Spike to test it out.

With a knowing smirk, Spike asked, "Hey, Twilight, am I allowed to turn your favorite books into ash?" An unconcerned, unaware moan was paired with a calm nod before her eyes flew open and she pulled her ear out of my mouth to glare at the whelp.

"If you do, you're going to know why Hell hath no fury like a pregnant mare scorned and you'll be grounded so hard that the previous race of sentient creatures will feel it!" Twili threatened, getting Spike to laugh good naturedly alongside the rest of us before his mother turned to me with a glaring, scrunched up face. "You're the one behind that little stunt, aren't you?!" Instead of answering, I lowered myself down to the floor behind her and laid my head on her baby belly with a contented smile on my face while she glared indignantly at everypony else who was snickering at the disgruntled look on her muzzle as we snuggled.

Despite her disgruntlement, I couldn't help smiling. We were to be wed within the month and our foals would be born within the year, everything was finally going our way one hundred percent. I felt her head turn to look at me, the air around us fading from memory as there existed only we two in the space of our reality. Sounds and letters danced about inside my throat, my mouth never moving but my words understood perfectly by the mare who'd graced me by being her marital partner, as she did the same with a gentle smile.

"Darling," Rarity piped up, breaking the tranquility between us with a large suitcase being brought up via her magic. "I can't make you a wedding gown if you're not up to be measured." I lightly glared at her for ruining the moment, receiving a glare in return that cowed me into backing down and away from Twilight who began to rise on her own. "Good, now what kind of gown are you thinking, darling? Maybe a Ballgown that matches the size of your little buns in the oven," She offered, placing a cleft hoof on Twili's belly to rub it for emphasis, an ecstatic look in her eyes as she rubbed just a little too...'forcefully', if that would make any sense. "Or perhaps you'd like something more like an A-Line to bring to light the total beauty of a mare in pregnancy?! A Trumpet dress might be nice, too! Oh, so many styles, fabrics, colors; I could just go on and on for _hours!_ Oh, this is _so exciting!_ "

She squealed excitedly, stars in her eyes as her coat shined and glittered with the ecstasy of sunlight beaming through our library window, getting Twili to back up a little with a nervous smile on her face. Chuckling awkwardly, Twili said, "Rarity, I'm a simple mare and I don't claim to be anything else. I don't think you need to make anything extravagant for a dress I'll only ever wear once. Besides, once the wedding's finished, Crumble and I will be going to the hospital so his prosthesis can be managed in a controlled environment while I await my due date and get a bit of a better handle on-well..." Bringing up a single leg shakily, she shook it limply, getting her whole body to wobble before she hastily returned her leg to its place supporting her. "My forced immobility."

Her words got Rarity, KP, and Minuette of all ponies to gasp in horror-as I stared with a slack jaw-at my fiancee's words. "I oe Kamehameha?!" (A/N: *Chuckles uncontrollably* I _swear_ that I'm not making this shit up, that's the actual word for 'crazy' in Hawaiian! I did a search for this shit for accuracy's sake and-*Cackles*-this is _amazing!_ )

"I'm perfectly sane, KP, but I just don't get why ponies get so worked up over a dress that you're only ever going to wear once and never wear again. It's an amazing day when ponies get married, and I like the idea of having special clothes for that day, but it shouldn't be such a big deal that everypony freaks out when somepony thinks differently." She said succinctly, getting those of us who _actually cared_ about this subject to stare in absolute horror at what she'd said. It's like she was spitting on the traditions of so many families!

" _What?!_ " I demanded, shock flooding my system. "Excuse me?! It's not a dress you'll never wear again, Twili, it's your _wedding dress_ : the dress everypony will remember you in for the rest of your life, the dress you'll never _need_ to wear again because it's like you're always wearing it in the company of your spouse! It's more than a dress, Twili, it's-it's..."

"A memento and testament to the individuality of love!" Minuette said intently, getting all of us to look at the musician oddly. "I just...Really like weddings and...wedding dresses..." Silence followed her words, getting her to say, "Stop judging me!"

"Don't you have to go to work soon, Minuette? Actually," I said, tapping my chin thoughtfully. "Don't we all have schedules to adhere to?" Just saying that, everypony looked like a deer caught in the light of an oncoming train, followed by our tower returning to its natural calmness as Minuette dashed out the door while the pegasi flew out the open panes of a few windows. "Thought so. Wait, where's Lemon Heart?"

"Right here, Cauld." They said, the sound of tools being returned to their tool bag reaching my ears, picking up any tools they'd left around the tower before casually making their way down the stares. "Normally I'd stick around to monitor your prosthesis but I need to check for any schematics for something that might help Ms. Sparkle make her way down the aisle. I'll be seeing you two later." Lemon Heart's words could be heard from the first story thanks to the communication pipes, but what caught my attention was what they said next, "Pardon me, Your Majesty."

"You're pardoned, my little pony." Came Princess Sunset's voice through the pipes, Twili's response being to beam as bright as Queen Celestia's sun. Making my way to properly greet Canterlot's Princess at the door, I found an inferno bursting to life in front of Twili before it snuffed itself to reveal Princess Sunset in her Regal State. "How are you doing, Twi?" Zircon eyes a glimmer with excitement and jagged teeth appearing to be normal thanks to a set of special dentures, golden horseshoes acting as a barrier between her divine hooves and the ground, and topping it all off was a tiara emblazoned with the sun her mother controlled. Burnt orange coat dotted with jewelry and small bits of dress, she completed her look of prepared-for-combat-princess with her fiery mane and tail being in plait braids.

"I'm alright, Your Highness," Twili said sarcastically with a smile which soon after devolved into a frown, puppeteering her front legs to wave in front of herself to remind our guest of her crippled status. "Besides the fact that I can't move without somepony around to move me, I can't help my fiancee support us, and I'm basically dead weight right now!" Her words, although not directed towards the princess in our tower, got Princess Sunset's ears to fold back with an empathetic smile on her face with guilt filling her eyes.

Head bowed depressingly, the princess said, "I'm sorry that I couldn't get to you two in time, Twi..." I face-hoofed at what Twili had done, knowing full-well how easily 'The Rising Star of Canterlot's mood could be buried six feet under, with a look on my face that told my bride-to-be to fix the situation. "I thought I could get there faster, but I guess I'm still-"

Before she could finish that thought, Twili's hoof was in Princess Sunset's mouth, stopping anymore self-deprecating thoughts from being spoken aloud. "Nope! None of that! No more of that! Shame on you for talking like that. Crumble," She said with a grin, looking to me authoritatively. "Stop Spike from eating the tail of our city's princess and go to work, I'll take care of Princess Sunset." As soon as she said that, Spike was in my telekinetic grasp before I placed him on the bed beside Twili, followed by me carefully putting on my lab coat.

Taking a final glance back at the three who would be left alone in Twili and I's home, I cheekily said, "Please keep an eye on them, Spike." After that, I made a mad dash out of the tower, Twili's indignant squealing being muffled by the doorway outside where I found a camera flash right in my eye. "Son of a-What in the Hell's going on?!"

"Chief Bakely; Canterlot Cravings. What do you think of Canterlot's Rising Star so far, sir?" A stallion said, offering me a microphone to speak into before finding it in his own face.

"She's my fiancee's friend and she doesn't deserve to be harassed by paparazzi. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get to work..." Not waiting for any of the paparazzi to ask more questions, I teleported a couple blocks away, giving me a head start on this race to the Canterlot Research and Advancement Center where I worked. The voices of my pursuers got me to teleport inside, finding myself in my office with a selection of bits and bobs, each one with an aura of mystery and mystic power.

My current project was what appeared to be a small sickle made from the jawbone of a great beast, a wrapping of leather strips acting as the grip on the toothless length of the jawbone. Along each tooth were markings, some of them barely a nick on the dentin and the surprisingly-still-existent enamel. Flipping the lights off, I turned on the magnifying light at my desk and began deciphering the markings, some of them being in a language similar to Equish if a little more angular than the written language of we ponies. Other markings, however, were in other languages I didn't have much experience with. Pulling out my notepad with the now-non-retractable fingers of the grab-shoe in my prosthesis, I flipped to the page where I'd written out the alphabets of certain languages.

So far, only a few words had been translated from a few of the strange languages. Linguistics was more Twili's field, but I wasn't unfamiliar with it; having learned the languages of the divines, damned and eldritch was no small feat, so this was a challenge I didn't mind. "'Taitah be tervaash, Iminha.' That's clearly a statement, and 'Iminha' sounds like either a name or a title, and the way this is organized makes this look to be a farewell of some kind...Maybe a 'final farewell', perhaps? Food for thought, but not right now. 'Shagdovala', could be anything so let's save that for last." Looking away from my notepad, I adjusted the brightness of the magnifying light and focused on the biggest tooth, jotting down notes in different sections with my magic as I found more symbols of varying alphabets. "What does ''etlh ghotvam'e'' mean, I wonder?" I muttered, shaking my head to refocus. _Your job's to transliterate the markings before translating them, Cauldron, don't skip the first step._

This was how most of my work days went: looking back at what I'd already transliterated while working on a different set of markings, reminding myself to take it one step at a time, and I'd complete the cycle by a fair amount of frustration paired with anxiety concerning the CR&AC's funding. Ever since I'd started working here, I'd been fully aware that we were low on sponsors and our decreasing number of breakthroughs wasn't helping. If something wasn't done, we'd be abolished and we'd all be jobless, leaving several families in bad places. With the skills I'd seen my coworkers demonstrate, we didn't have many other options, none that would pay well, anyway.

Once more shaking my head, the idea of what would happen to Twili and I in the event of the CR&AC being abolished, spurring me on to focus. It would be a few hours before I came to the realization I wasn't the only one in my office, although I was unconsciously certain I was the only one breathing...

 **In Ponyville**

Thunder crashed outside while Thunderlane was lying in the hospital, still in rough shape after the beating Pinkie had given him, but he wasn't still unconscious. "This blows chunks!" He wheezed with his voice muffled due to the oxygen mask the nurses had placed on his muzzle, the mask being even more necessary in his case due to his well-kept secret of being asthmatic. It felt like his lungs were trying to defy physics and crumple themselves out of his body, breathing was a struggle he could only compare to his marefriend's experiences on the Summit of the Gods. At any other moment, he'd want to get back at the mare who'd hospitalized him, but in this circumstance...something was different.

He was alone. Normally, solitude wasn't unheard of in the Ponyville hospital, but he'd always kept his asthma in check and hadn't even realized his emergency inhaler had expired, so this was new to him. Instead of being out among the townsfolk, making idle chitchat and racing his fellow pegasi, he was stuck inside a building that smelled like antibacterials and prescription drugs. When he'd rather be laughing his ass off at parties his college buddies had made, he was wheezing himself into another broken rib to keep the other ten broken chest bones company. And, despite his desperation to keep his end of the incentive _they'd_ given him, he couldn't give them the other two survivors who'd defied the government.

 _Where'd it all go so wrong..._ He asked himself, a few pitiful whimpers escaping him before he fell into another wheezing fit.

 **Flashback, Cloudsdale, Four Years Ago (Thunderlane's POV)**

We were taking our final flight exam, our previous two exams being how our teachers figured out which of us would pass or not, and the only things at stake being our lives. The teachers never kept it quiet, having been through the exams before and governmental authorities having made it legal for the teachers to discuss the exams with their students. "Thunderlane," My homeroom teacher, Mr. Open Skies, said as he pulled me aside. "Run away!"

"What?!" I demanded, his paw shushing me.

Looking back and forth, his eyes held desperation within them. " _Please,_ for the love of Celestia, figure out how to escape _._ You know that I hate demeaning my students, but your asthma is going to fail you and send you straight into the Pegasus Device!" His words rung inside my head, the field trip my class had gone on to the factory being at the forefront of my thoughts. Even if I couldn't see them, I could feel the Factory enforcers' eyes were on me even as we spoke.

"Hey, what're you waiting for; it's our turn, Thunderlane!" Came a familiar voice, getting me to turn and find the blue mare who'd been in the same class with me for my entire school career.

"Sure thing, Rainbow Crash. Worry about yourself before you worry too much about me, kiddo." I said haughtily, sending her a charming grin she rolled her eyes at, the guilt Mr. Open Skies felt being palpable while I took up my place next to Rainbow Dash at the starting line. Before the examiner said go, I saw Rainbow Dash glance at me suggestively, the storm welling up in my wings in a silent wing-boner nopony commented on. With a shout from the examiner, we took off into the clouds. My wings beat against the air, feathers and fur rustling in the symphony mere mortals misnamed wind, with each cloud we passed through bathing me of all parasites I might have missed when I preened myself. A set of cloud rings came up before us, my eyes narrowing as my wings beat harder. _The first third of the exam: Agility. We have to make it through each hoop with all of the aerial maneuvers the teachers have taught us._

Speeding up, I went through the first set of hoops with an aileron roll, breaking only the first two. Rainbow Dash was right behind me, going through the set-including the repaired loops-flawlessly. Teeth gritting as my lungs began to sting and burn, the crumpling of my internal organs slowing me down while Rainbow Dash sped ahead of me with that condescending laugh of hers. "SEE YA AT THE FINISH LINE, SUCKER!"

'Your asthma is going to fail you and send you straight into the Pegasus Device!' Mr. Open Skies' words echoed in my head, the magic in my body flooding towards the feathers on my chest and wings. Lungs aflame, feathers alight with power and pride swallowing my thoughts. "I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE FOR YOU!" I shouted, air coming around me to form a cone and lightning dancing between my now flaring feathers. Not even realizing it, I'd passed her, leaving me in the lead of the second third of the exam: stamina.

Before me was a long stretch of sky framed by storm clouds, my lungs beginning to feel ready to crumple inside-outwards again as I realized I had to fly over seven miles without a break. _I'll never make it!_ I thought disparagingly, the power in my wings and chest fading, my speed decreasing and my chances for survival diminishing. I didn't have my inhaler, I didn't have a place to rest my weakening body, and I was going to die. I wasn't going to beat Rainbow Dash, prove that I was better than her and I wasn't going to see those eyes of hers.

 _Those eyes..._ I thought absently, remembering every time we'd made eye-contact and every time I saw her teasing glances. _I want to see those eyes, one more time..._ Thankfully for us, we were going to have each other forever. Rainbow Dash came up beside me, snickering deviously, with a glance to me that made my wings flare. Just before she could get a shoulder ahead of me, I slammed into and grabbed onto her, sending us plummeting down towards the Everfree below like our senior, Fluttershy, had done during her exam.

"What are you doing, you idiot?!" Dash demanded, my lips claiming hers momentarily before she pushed my head away. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!"

"Both of us are gonna die in those exams," I began, disheartened that she still wanted to hide her feelings for me. "This way, we've a chance to live our lives happily. Fluttershy's older than us and more attuned to the forest than most pegasi. She's probably still alive somewhere, and if she can make it, so can we!" As we fell, a clearing came into view, getting me to open my wings and guide us towards it. Reluctantly letting go of the mare I'd come to admire beyond mere adoration, I landed and hide Dash under my wing as I guided her into a particularly tall bush with me close behind. As soon as I did so, the distant sound of flapping reached our ears before voices became audible.

"Where did they go?" One of the Factory's goons asked irritably.

"Don't know," Their partner responded. "And I don't care. The forest will have its way with them long before we find their sorry carcasses. Let's go."

"Good idea." The first goon said. Soon after that was said, the sounds of wings flapping began to become fainter and fainter as they left. A relieved sigh left the both of us.

"I owe you." Dash said quietly, getting me to look down at her with a charming smile, before continuing begrudgingly. "And as much as I don't wanna repay you, I will..." Before I could ask her how she'd do so, she pushed me onto my back. "Don't ruin this for me."

 **Flashback End. Back in Canterlot, in Twilight and Cauldron's tower**

"And that's the day I lost my virginity to my erotomaniacal coltfriend." Rainbow Dash said plainly, still hanging from the ceiling of the library, coddling a still sleeping Tank. Twilight, Rarity, Shimmer and Spike stared at her in shock. "What?"

"Why are you telling us this while your son's in the room?" Shimmer asked incredulously. "And why are you telling _us_ this? If you need me to schedule you a therapy visit there's a certain wolf I know who'd love to set up an appointment for you, if that's the case." The princess's words made Rainbow Dash lightly glare at the daughter of the ruling monarch, whatever reason she did this for being a mystery to all except herself.

Sighing, Rainbow said, "I don't think a therapist can fix what's happened, Princess. I didn't quit when I started this relationship, and I can't quit now...But I can't drag Tank into this, either." Her conundrum apparent, she fell silent, bringing her wings closer around her son and herself. "I don't suppose this therapist might know an easy cure for erotomania?"

"There's no fast fix to any fallacious fantasy, Ms. Rainbow-"

"Dash," Rainbow interrupted, looking to the monarch's daughter with a tired face. "Call me Dash, Princess."

A simple nod answered the Thestral before Shimmer continued. "As I was saying: There's no fast fix to any fallacious fantasy, and all that we can do to fix your coltfriend is to give him time, therapy and be patient with him."

"Damn it!" Rainbow hissed through grit teeth. "We don't _have_ time. I can't take Tank back into that mess and I can't leave without making it worse..."

Rarity looked up to Ponyville's librarian in confusion. "Could somepony explain erotomania to me, please? I'm having trouble understanding this."

"Erotomania's a psychological condition where the afflicted suffers from an obsessive feeling of love towards the object of their affections, usually somepony of higher class, causing them to develop delusions that the object of their affections loves them back but is expressing it in small gestures. Glances, quirks, smiles, expressions, speech and or interactions with the media." Rainbow said intelligently, her status as a librarian coming to the forefront of everypony's mind in that moment. No longer was this the not really punk-ish pegasus, but an educated and autopoietic mare who'd learned a lot over the past twelve months. "Because of this delusion, they become more open about their feelings towards the object of their obsession which tends to end in rejection, but the afflicted deludes themself further into thinking that it's all an act and that they're just 'not ready to accept their feelings' or 'they have to protect their image for now' or other such bullshit.

"To put it plainly, it's a condition where the sufferer becomes delusional and dangerous to everypony around them, including themselves and the pony they've obsessed over. That's what you walked into when you got Twi's letter; I'd gotten some things that could've helped fight off his condition and he lashed out, saying that I was trying to hide my feelings for him and that I didn't have to do so anymore." Rainbow shuddered, eyes glazing over slightly as she recounted the experience.

 **Flashback, Ponyville, Golden Oaks Library**

"Dashie," Thunderlane said, walking through the door of their tree home with a tied stack of books from the train station. "I got the books you wanted." No sooner had he said that than said mare had appeared upside-down above him, her head level with his, reaching down to swiftly pick up the stack before finding her coltfriend's paws holding down the stack. "Hey, what's with the rush?" Her coltfriend asked, his voice wounded, as he received a glare from his marefriend.

"You know what the rush is, Thunder," Rainbow growled, the hooks of her wings coming down to pull on the strings holding the stack as it was. "I need to double check that these are the actual books, triple check for damages and then make sure that we put our label on it so nopony can say 'oh, nopony told us it was from here'!" Huffing out the last part of her mini-rant, she glared at her coltfriend who sighed in relent.

Eyes downcast and ears folded back sadly, he pulled away from the stack, the sound of leathery wings reaching his drooped ears. _I'd hoped to spend some quality time on our anniversary, but I guess work takes priority over pleasure..._ "Hey, Dash," He mentioned, getting said blue mare to turn her attention towards the sharer of her home other than her son. "What are those books about, anyways? The only title I recognized was the 'Key of the Starry Heavens', but it's the historical memoir instead of the story we're told as foals, and the rest sounded like they're medical. I also thought I heard pill bottles rattling around in the paper bag attached to the stack." Dash froze midair when he said the last part, smiling shakily as she quickly glided down to sit at the table in the living room underneath the tree itself.

"That's not right..." Dash said unconvincingly, failing to hide whatever it was she wanted kept a secret. "I definitely didn't ask for any pills..." Unconvinced by her words, the gray stallion came up behind her and pressed his feathered chest to the back of her head, his presence looming over her.

"What's in the bag, Dash?" He asked seriously, his words dangerous and admonishing, as Dash didn't turn to look him in the eye.

"Your brother said you ran out of medication so," She chuckled fearfully. "I thought I'd buy you some..." Slowly turning, she'd have wished she didn't because she saw the eyes of a stallion who wanted obedience over consideration. Proving this to be true, Dash soon found a paw in her face, leading to a painful exchange of blows.

 **Flashback end**

"That was three months ago." Rainbow yawned, drifting off to sleep.

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

That's a wrap ladies, gents and other! Janky as fuck, am I right? So...Unlike most Thunder*Dash fics, I made Thunderlane a erotomaniac and Dash the sufferer of his abuse in their codependent relationship. How many people wanna kill me, Pinks?

Pinkie: Too many for me to give a shit, anymore! *Swigs whiskey without a second thought*

Thanks, Pinkie...Not much to say, so (As Always: Thanks for being here, please R&R, no flaming, be constructive in your criticism and SEE YA-G'NIGHT!)


	18. So long, farewell, sweet sanity

Whaz up ladies, gents and other! I've been trying to write my other stories more than this one, but this story's calling me like nobody's business and I'm feeling _so_ reserved about this chapter that ya'll have no idea!

Pinkie: Why's that, Wyverntooth?

Because, this is the chapter where I quit lollygagging and bring the ingredients of this stew off of the back burner...*Blood leaks from my eyes, dripping down like the tears a lost child weeps after millennia away from home* I can't keep up this charade any longer! It's time I put this beast down before it hurts itself! *I storm into the Aether* Warning: This portion of the story is almost guaranteed to piss people off, which is why I've pushed it back as much as possible without making each chapter feel like _complete_ garbage and it's taken a toll on certain aspects of my writing such as pacing, focus and continuity (Let's _actually_ hope that my writing's still shitty like it has been the last few chapters, otherwise a lot of readers'll probably drop this story altogether). I know ya'll want quality, as do I, but this chapter I'm going to spend the least amount of time on because I'd make myself sick doing so.

Pinkie: Oh no. *Shakes her head in her paws, looking to a bottle of alcohol before a different paw takes it out of her reach which makes her whine* Hey...

Written Documentation

 _Thoughts or emphasis_

'Paraphrasing'

"Normal speech"

" **Abnormal speech** "

"Ethereal speech" (Probably not gonna use this one very often, but I will use it this time at the very least)

 _ **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

I came to, finding myself encased in my calcium cage again. No limbs. No eyes. No brain...Just a consciousness unable to be heard. Silence came to my nonexistent ears and I cried. I laughed. I _screamed_ to the Void that had _damned me_ to this Hell! My thoughts called out to all of my friends. My family. _VICTORY_ _! FEAR! NIKOLA! MOM! DAD! SILVERCLAW! DIAMOND SHIV! SORAKA! HESTIA! Twilight..._ I mentally whimpered. Once more was I doomed to my own thoughts, unable to break out of this torment nor able to break my mind inward.

None think insanity to be a good thing, and they'd normally be correct in that train of thought, but the truth is much worse. Insanity is a net for the acrobat in the circus of life. It catches you and doesn't break! Insanity holds its subject like a hammock and lets them nestle there for all eternity without forcing them to suffer! Insanity lets its subject revel in their individual truth, unable to know anything else and unable to know suffering more than themselves.

Again I called out for Twilight, wishing she were there to at the very least hold my egg and let me know I was safe. "...Spike..." My mental sobs silenced.

 _A voice! A SOUND!_ I cheered in my own mind.

"...Spike!" The voice tried again. I couldn't tell where it was coming from.

 _THAT'S ME! I'M HERE! LET ME OUT! HATCH ME! PLEASE!_ I called out mentally.

"Spike!" Twilight wept, sobs racking her body at the sight of what had become of her son, hugging the egg close to her chest as best as possible while the shadows coiled around a sole source of illumination.

"He's gone," Cackled a disgusting mistake of nature that shared a gender with Twilight's husband. The grate above her let light encompass her form but hide the forms of those nearby, letting the mistake hide in ambiguity. "Sparkle, and he's not coming back if I have anything to say about it..." Spike's egg- _her egg-_ suddenly vanished from her proximity into the darkness around her.

"NO!" She shrieked in vain, unable to move or take her egg back. "GIVE ME BACK MY SON!"

"'Son'?!" The mistake laughed incredulously. "There's no need for a stand-in when you've got those two...delicious buns in the oven!" Saying that, the mistake's influence stretched over Twilight's pregnant abdomen teasingly. Out of nowhere could be heard the sound of something cracking and going-SPLAT! Hearing that, Twilight's eyes widened, tears streaking down her cheeks faster than ever before.

" _SPIKE!_ "

More cackles answered her, the grunting and moaning followed the mistake's laughter as flesh met flesh. "Don't cry," Another voice-a female-began sympathetically, unable to be kind in anything but sound. "Everything will be better when your husband comes. And then we can be freed of all the suffering your gods have placed on us! Won't that be wonderful?!"

"My husband!" Twilight realized, her eyes narrowing menacingly with untapped power. "When he finds me, and he will, you'll regret ever having gestated in your mother's decrepit womb." The mistake's cackling grew louder, more deranged and all the more heinous. Before she could utter a syllable of her inevitable question, the feeble form of her mate came into sight from the shadows that ebbed away like a writhing mass of its own volition. Not even a gasp would do what she saw justice, the heartache at losing her son right in front of her seeming to fade from her mind as she let out a scream.

Her voice was the only sound in that dark place, the only sound that mattered. How long she screamed, the cords in her throat becoming so raw the currency of her life beginning to seep out of their fibers, was hard to say. All that could be said was that her scream, primal and horrified, awoke the derelict form of her beloved stallion.

He was hardly recognizable, the only thing remaining to discern his identity being his mane and broken prosthesis, as the rest of his being had been treated to such cruelty that not even the mare of his dreams could tell it was his visage at which she shrieked. Face a mess of torn flesh, broken bone and loosely-hanging skin, the muscles encasing his skull were exposed and subject to agony enacted by the insects that swarmed his barely living carcass, a centipede wriggled its way out from between what remained of his shattered left eye socket to slither through the tangle of bone shards and shredded muscle into his mostly flattened nostrils.

Where he'd had a nervous smile once, he lacked a lower jaw and tongue. His horn, the most precious aspect of a unicorn's being, had been ripped from his brow and used to skewer his phallus and unraveled large intestine to the wall behind him as a leash of pain. The right eye socket was leaking a bubbling white and blue liquid that had been the death of several insects, Twilight's intellect damning her to the realization that his eye had been liquefied. His abdomen's skin had been peeled away, leaving his muscles to be snipped and woven into a noose that had been wrapped around his neck, the skin from his abdomen soaking in the acids that slowly drip-dropped from his stomach which hung from a rack not a foot above his mangled form.

Right side pulled ninety degrees from the left, his right hind leg had been bent upward, broken, torn and fashioned into some mockery of a floral decoration that oozed puss and blood. The fate of his left leg was to have been ripped from its socket and petrified to support his maimed, quivering head that trickled with agonized tears, puss, salivation and the liquefied state of his left eye. Buttocks skinned of their color and his cutie mark, a rod interwoven with barbed wire was forced into his spinal column through his right lung and left hip.

Beneath the vertically-standing support his left hind leg had become was defiled, shuddering Krivbeknih with its now ripped pages, defaced illustrations and severed spine. Twilight's scream subsided as did that of the mistake's flesh meeting flesh, blood spurting from her mouth as she coughed from the overflow. "Funny you mentioned your husband, Sparkle," Mocked the mistake, shadows reeling back as if in disgusted relief at being free of contact with the animate corpse of Senior Jumble. "Because I could've sworn you meant my dear big brother, Cookie Cumble-Oh, _I'm sorry_ , I mean 'Bubbling Cauldron'-here! As you can see, he's not of much use to you or anypony for that matter."

The face of shock, bewilderment and sheer horror she wore brought the undead stallion to tearful laughter, half of his lower jaw simply falling off to be removed with that of another, unknown entity. He was bruised so much his peach fur didn't strike her as belonging to him, the state of his right foreleg being poor judging by the fact it had been bent over his back like it were a leather rag, and his mane had only _begun_ to be disgusting when he was at the Academy if the numerous rodents and insects trapped in it were any hint.

Not a peep left the pregnant mare as she coughed up more blood and watched her brother-in-law with fear being the only emotion her poor brain could produce. Her mind was nothing but broken, frantic noises of her primal ancestors in any perils lesser to this. Jumble limped towards her getting her to finch back in some vain, pitiful attempt to be anywhere near the approaching, reanimated carcass of her brother-in-law and tormentor. "Come now, _sister_ , speak up. Who're you talkin' about? Was it my wash of a brother?!" A cackle followed that rhetorical query, the sound of his manic guffaw leading to Twilight's heart beating faster than lightning as her stomach and bowels voided themselves of whatever content they'd held up until now. "You must've if you're this quiet and this shocked, not to mention he's the only stallion you've slept with and married!"

"LEAVE HER ALONE, FILTH!" Came the female voice, the shadows dispersing to reveal a heavily bruised and soaked-in-various-liquids Rarity. Jumble's eyes befell her in a glare, ceasing any further defiance from the mare's lips. Rarity's hindquarters were bruised more than the rest of her body, her normally pristine coat marred with grimy, liquid whiteness that oozed over and out of her shaved-bare and abused-raw derriere. Sucking her teeth as she attempted to sit down, it became apparent to Twilight what she'd endured in this Hell-on-Earth she found herself in as the rest of their location was engulfed in a vile cotton candy-blue glow.

"Anyway," Jumble muttered, his eyes rotating in their sockets to inform his guest of his autonomously-enucleated state. "I bet you're wondering why you're here and why there are so many carcasses here." Gesturing to the floor, Twilight didn't even need to look to see the carnage her brother-in-law had enacted on other living creatures, the feeling of maggots writhing on the floor around her bloated baby-belly was too much to enlighten her to the state of her fellow captives. The stallion in front of her smiled, said expression so disturbing his jaw hinge snapped and his cheeks tore, Twilight's eyes rolling into the back of her head in terror as her brain failed to free her mind of this stallion's influence. Her reaction made him laugh harder, his mouth's ruined state adding to the sounds leaving his throat.

Another jaw was procured from one of the many carcasses at his hooves, replacing his current one without so much as a flinch of disgust at the grotesque carnage he'd resulted in. "The answer's quite simple: I hate my brother. I hate my parents. I hate my _race! I hate life!_ And I want Cauldron to pay for damning me to continue living, even after I told him I didn't want to survive that encounter in the catacombs that earned him his cutie mark." His manic smile became a hell-worn glare, the fury he felt being palpable by even the dead at his hooves. "Most would assume his cutie mark's a representation for his knowledge in the occult, but they'd be forgiven because they're _wrong_. Oh so _very wrong!_ His cutie mark's a representation of his _mastery_ at damning anypony he comes into contact with to a dark suffering not even _Tartaros_ would deem just.

"His special talent's the Hell he submits anything he knows to _with_ his occult knowledge. Look at what's happened to everything around him! His parents lost their favorite child while he survived and thus hate him; I was brought back to life despite my desperation to stay dead; he's depressed because you're the _first good thing_ in his life; the business he works at is going under; you're both crippled and are now expecting unwanted mistakes!" Jumble's words rang in the ears of his three living prisoners. Rarity was silent, her legs buckling under her before she fell into the rotting flesh-mass of a lobster-legged-equine abomination, tears trickling towards the terrace beneath her.

Twilight's eyes poured liquid heartache, the state of her mind deteriorating at an even more drastic rate with every passing second, runes illuminating the walls as she felt her mind beginning to cloud as a phenomenal sensation rose from the base of her skull to the interior of her brain. "There we go," Jumble sighed approvingly. "You're starting to feel the blissful static, relaxing into the new, _better_ thoughts assigned to you." Cauldron fumed, the air around him beginning to subtly warp.

 _To think that that Baku wasn't kidding about the 'forced ASMR'-shit!_ The mangled stallion thought angrily, blindly twisting his neck off of his petrified hind leg and landing his damaged skull on the Krivbeknih's defiled pages. _Relaxing the mind with forcibly pleasurable stimulus so you can brainwash the poor soul faster...That's even more fucked up than resurrecting anypony, Jumble!_ Beneath the remains of his mouth, the Krivbeknih's letters began to enter him, freeing his internal structure of the intruding organisms.

"Do you want to save them?" Came a thought not his own, not a voice but a thought in his mind that wasn't of his manufacture. "Do you want to save your wife and children?" The thought came again, its origin donning on the tormented stallion.

Quiet failings at speech were fused with Cauldron's thoughts. _The Krivbeknih!_

"Yes," The Krivbeknih responded, urgency found in the thoughts it etched into his brain, an explosion sounding somewhere else in the catacombs alerting all occupants to the approaching gallop of the Royal Guard. "Now, do you wish to save your wife and children? There isn't much time left in this world. Decide now!" Cauldron's mind began to cloud over, nothing of consistency or material substance being found within his being besides a simple nod as he began to see a light at the edge of his blindness. "Very well..."

Not another thought was etched into Cauldron's brain as he and the Krivbeknih were woven together in fibrous pain and carnage. "For crimes against Equestria and its citizens, you-Senor Jumble-are under arrest and are to await-"

Interrupting the guard who'd begun the ultimatum, Shining Armor ordered his subordinates, "Shut up and kill this fucker!" The sounds of combat began to arise within the chamber Jumble had selected for them to suffer in. Shining charged, an armor of light and feelings forming around him as he rushed the cultist, finding a random carcass skewered on the ethereal extension of his horn. " _WHAT?!_ " He demanded, eyes ablaze with white-hot rage.

Jumble's snickering alerted the soldier to his right side, finding the carcasses of numerous creatures forming the maw of a monstrous thing in the shape of a beast. " _SURPRISE!_ " It dove for Shining, soon finding other Royal Guards taking formation around it and a hellish blaze igniting in the individual bodies of its mass. The thing thrashed about, snapping its makeshift jaws together, the burning bodies in its mass bursting like the bellies of overstuffed parasites. Dodging the thing's thrashing and bursting, Shining and two others ran for Jumble's captives only to find another Thing in their way, composed of other carcasses and shaped towards the visage of some anonymous animal. " _WE'RE NOT DONE PLAYING!_ "

The new Thing split its composite jaws apart and spun about themselves like saws at the soldiers, each body in its mass seeming to gain some semblance of life as limbs began to flail about in the hopes of grabbing something. Shining's gaze fell on Twilight for a moment, anger filling him at the glazed expression in her distant eyes as her neck and head spasmed at random, every fiber in his being stirring in an unfamiliar manner to his mind despite his heart's demand for more. Magenta light engulfed him as he dodged the outstretched limbs of the Thing's spinning upper half, ethereal shields now floating around his nearest compatriots and himself, the Thing's halves unable to grab the soldiers yet still forcing them back with brute force.

"Ooh," Jumble mockingly cooed with curiosity, leering at Shining's hate filled grimace as their eyes locked for just a moment. "You're a special little watchdog, _aren'tcha_?!" Following the undead stallion's query was the intact Thing's form changing from an anonymous animal's skull into an orgy of carcasses turned sickening pustules and a twisted mind with power. Each carcass seemed to melt, flesh and bone turning into a slurry of pastel colors awash in putrid odors that lead an unstoppable assault on all near enough to catch a solitary whiff. The face Jumble wore was one of bliss and mania, dark holes beginning to form within his ocular organs and body, limbs of indeterminate construction arose from the mass he'd joined. "Regardless of whether or not you're special, I've still got my playthings with me..." How he said that sent chills running down the spines of all who heard it. He'd said it gently, almost _affectionately!_

Every word out of the peach-colored monstrosity's mouth made Shining's blood broil. The fact that the undead pony was even still capable of mocking him would've demoted him if this had been a simulation, but this was real and it was driving him out of his mind. Questions were flooding his subconscious, his reactions slowing down as his mind fought itself, finding himself caught in the grasp of a writhing appendage he couldn't care to identify. Unfolding his bracer's claw, the offending limb holding him was rent, the Thing's upper half knocking him into the air with the wind leaving his lungs as he hit the ceiling. It all seemed to slow down with his descent towards the Thing's lesser, now tapered-to-a-point half, the questions forced into his mind swimming in the air like fish in a maelstrom. How could he have let this happen? Why hadn't they been more thorough in their sweeps of the catacombs? What sort of power did this abomination have besides manipulation of the dearly departed's remains? Where were the other patrols right now? When would they tire out? Who in his squad was the game-changer? Who all was _in_ his squad? Did he even know?!

Shining angrily swore under his breath, one of his subordinates drawing his attention after slamming into the halved Thing's tapered portion, body parts soaring across the chamber into the walls."Sarge, reinforcements are on their way with the Assets; what's the plan?" The earthbound mare asked seriously, hunching on her hind legs to hold a large, stone Zweihander-spatha fusion in her shoed hooves as Shining Armor landed on his hooves with a grunt. It was at that moment a confident smirk plastered itself on the commanding officer's face, the knowledge that their victory was nearing bringing him out of the doubt and into the now.

"The plan, Heavy Duty," The sergeant began with a golden ambiance enveloped him, sky blue eyes meeting the hazel orbs of his char-black companion. "Is to use every trick we've got up our sleeves." Rolling under the Thing's separate portions, Shining's rank was made fresh in everypony's mind as his bracer-blade took on the golden glow and cleaved through the Thing's greater half. "LISTEN UP, EVERYPONY, WE'RE GONNA HOLD OUT UNTIL REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE AND WE'RE GONNA TAKE THIS FUCKER DOWN BEFORE THEY GET HERE! HEAVY DUTY; TUNNEL TRACK; PILE DRIVER; ATTACK FORMATION: MOONLIT NIGHT!"

The three ponies whose names he'd called out all exchanged glances before calling out the affirmative and doing as ordered. Heavy Duty, moving about on her hind legs still, dashed over towards the fight with the powered-up Jumble and cleaved an approaching limb from the mass he'd become a part of as she did. Her hoofsteps left deep impressions in the cobbled stones beneath her, blood and bile doing nothing to slow her down, as she crouched onto her knees and slid along the slickened-with-gore floor to use her blade and herself as a catapult for a smaller, tattooed mare of a pink and blue spotted coat. Tattoos aglow with powers unfamiliar to most unicorns, the smaller mare was sent soaring above the rest of her comrades before she flipped midair and held herself aloft.

Just as Jumble made to strike the emblazoned unicorn, he found his approaching limb was alight with blue flames, waves of said fire crashing into his mass from Heavy Duty's sword. Each time a wave left the Terran pony's weapon with a swing, she brought it back to be reinchanted by the seemingly same small mare that was floating above them, making Jumble look above and find an identical-looking pegasus mare with glowing tattoos to be dropping explosives on his mass.

While all of that was going on, Cauldron and the Krivbeknih unraveled to reveal only a floating collection of firefly-sized stars in the vague shape of a pony. "Seconded." The entity muttered, its voice unheard by the occupied combatants and yet crystal clear to the tormented closest to it. "Repairing damage; Motion carried!" And like that, the end was nigh! The entity seemed to dissolve into a river of colorful tears, the flow of which siphoned off into the shattered egg Spike had become and the pregnant, seizing Twilight.

Spike returned to his state as an egg, his yolk and white oozing back through the cracks of his slowly rejoining eggshell. _What the fuck just happened?!_ Spike demanded himself, unable to experience sight, smell, or taste but all too aware of the sensation of cold stone beneath himself and the sounds of combat. Twilight, unlike her son, was completely unaware of what was going on about her as she seized and warped. Her husband's soul weaved around and through her, every fiber in her body screaming at the presence invading them and breaching the place where her twins gestated, muscles stretching and rapping around new bones that hadn't even belonged to any other creature before.

Rarity's body darkened, matching the absent of light around her in this bleak chamber she'd suffered alongside her best friend's spouse, as her tiara began to heat up. "I can help you, child..." Spoke a voice in her mind, masculine and haunting, demanding respect and awe.

 _WHO'S THERE?!_ Rarity thought with fright, the darkness she'd blended into beginning to crawl over her left eye. Her left eye became a white pupil inside of a violently glowing vermilion against the black canvas that was her sclera. Everything became partially distorted, a haze of vague pigmentation around every object rose. Her eyes darted about frightfully, her sanity coming into question.

The voice echoed a chuckle in her thoughts, leaving an open-ended comment to the mare whose thoughts he occupied. "All you need do is accept my power..." Her eyes fell upon the battle between the soldiers and the monstrosity that had taken from her that which cannot be returned, the sight of Shining harming Jumble's actual body bringing hope into her heart. As well as envy. "I could give you the justice you deserve, child. Let me help you, let me live as your power, and I will do _whatever_ it is you have need of me! "

Rarity stared at the battle, seeing Jumble begin to falter and fail, finding herself glaring Hell at her tormentor and the stallion who'd rob her of the one thing she wanted more than the entire cosmos. _Give me my justice! Give it to me, NOW!_

"Then say my name!" The voice rejoiced, Rarity's left eye glowing with an ethereal flame.

"SOMBRA!" Rarity shrieked, power surging her from within her tiara, the gem of which was glowing as bright as a dying star in the night's sky.

 **Canterlot Gardens, Garden of Insurgent Chaos**

Celestia wasn't having a good day. Two of her school's students had been abducted from their own home and were still missing, her daughter had a mental breakdown, the citizens had gone into a frenzy after the dead began rising from the grave to attack the living, and-to make matters _even_ worse-Discord had been freed from his stone encasement. The last of those issues was the reason she was in the Garden of Insurgent Chaos, the garden in which she'd assigned a family line to tend and monitor Discord's statue.

Before her, standing atop his pedestal on the right leg of an iguana and the left leg of a sable saanen, was the physical representation of chaos on the planet Earth: Discord. His face, although equine in form, wasn't one of an emotion she appreciated. The emotion in question was an amalgamation of fury, expectation and disappointment. The grey fur of his head was matted and unkempt, his bushy eyebrows and goatee held shards of stone as did his short, black mane. Rising from the divide between his brow and scalp was the left antler of a chevreuil as well as the right horn of an alpine ibex, both of which rose towards the back of his head where his long neck descended to his ursine torso where his fur had matted into spikes over his chest where the lion paw that acted as his right arm and the harpy eagle talon that was his left arm, were cross with the talon tapping his lion arm's bicep.

Torso, although slim and seemingly underfed, was quite healthy for his serpentine frame. Descending from that aspect was the tail of a boa constrictor, ending in a tuft of white fur fitting of his age. His eyes were damning, both with yellow sclera and red irises, though the right eye looked like he'd suffered a concussion while his left pupil was as small as the tip of a thumbtack. A large fang hung out from his grimacing mouth, before he spoke with that charismatic yet dangerous voice of his, "Well...I've figured out how to solve the state of the others, and yet only you stand before me instead of you and my daughter..." He brought his eagle talon up to his face and tapped the side of his now seemingly bored face. "What to do?"

He left it hanging there, fully aware that Celestia knew he was _not_ happy. "I-"

"Shshshshsh~~sssssshhhhh..." Discord shushed, lion paw becoming like rubber to twist and twirl itself into knots before placing a claw over her lips. "None of that. We can't risk me getting any less pleased with you the way things are, right now, now can we?" His rhetorical question was followed by the reeling of his knotted lion arm back to support his talon against his cheek as her walked back and forth across the pedestal, seemingly going down nonexistent stairs as his lower extremities faded into the stone. Not a word left the Equestrian Queen as she awaited whatever gag Discord had planned to finish, getting her wish when she heard a ding come from chest before a miniature Discord opened her mouth and strode out to sit on air as he stared dangerously into her magenta eyes. "I didn't ask you to watch over my daughter, but I'd expected you to have at least kept tabs on her whereabouts and safety so that this _very conversation_ didn't occur!"

"I-" Once more, Discord silenced her, this time removing his jaws from his face to transmute them into a ball-gag as he tapped his now mouthless, smooth facet of a visage.

"I said," Came Discord's voice from his splitting-down-the-middle tail, the tail turning its tufted end to 'look' at Equestria's ruling deity. "'None of that.' I don't want excuses, _girl_ , I want an explanation and my daughter pronto!" Growing back to normal size with the sound of firecrackers going off along his bones, the Draconequus reached forward and wrapped his lion paw around the primary joint of Celestia's pristine wings threateningly. "I'm the one who gave you these wings, and I can undo what's been done to get you this far just. Like. That!" To emphasize his point, Discord snapped his eagle talons, causing the sky to begin bleeding liquid fire like agonized tears.

Celestia's eyes widened in fear at the sight of one particularly droopy descent of lava miles above her. "I've just switched the upper atmosphere with the mantle, meaning-" All of Equestria suddenly shook, the crust of the planet crumbling beneath the combined weight of the life and limb atop of it. "That took a little longer than expected. Hm...It appears I might be getting rather quite rusty in my expression(s) of power..." Removing the ball-gag from Celestia's mouth and placing it around her throat like a necklace of profane acts, Discord gave her a face expressing smug satisfaction upon his lips and seething hate in his eyes.

As the crumbling approached them, the very ground shuddering in weakness under its own might, Celestia's expression of fear began to shape into abject horror. "Discord please!" She pleaded, an act so foreign to her nature as to be alien. "I'll find her, just spare me your wrath!" His face, strange and betwixt wrath and pride, became that like a disappointed father.

"And finally you admit to your folly," Discord said condescendingly with his eagle talon held up to tap on his cheek by his lion paw, the ground beneath them crumbling like a cookie in melting ice cream as he did so. The nearing destruction brought out a frightened whinny from Celestia's muzzle, the sound as alien as her pleading, her existence as a god among mortals having made her proud mortal redemption. "You're as selfish as ever, dear girl, but I'll offer you a deal..."

"I'll take it!" She declared, falling with the ground as her wings ceased responses to her desperate pleas to survive. "PLEASE-!" And like the flipping of a switch, Discord's eyes burned with the light of a supernova, as in his eagle talon appeared Celestia's wings now metallic and of curvature unlike anything known to any mortal on Earth. Suddenly, without a sound other than the shrill shrieks of terror all about the world they fell from, everything was as it had been. Except for the ruling monarch's wings. Those remained in Discord's talon, their curvature shifting as they seemed to curl in on themselves along the vertical axis of what had once appeared to be bone.

From nearly weightless, sturdy metal wings with long, slim strips to act as feathers; they rolled in on themselves until they became a pair of large disks which he held in between his knuckles like they were discus. As if by some hex long ago cast, Celestia's mane and coat seemed to broil and corrupt of its own volition, bringing her to her knees with shrieking howls of terror fleeing her throat into the world about her like a fountain of bloodied sound unfamiliar to any left on the Earth. "Ah," Discord said mockingly, casting a beam of shadow from his eyes as he rememorized every contour of Celestia's true, hidden colors. "So long since I've seen _that_ face, eh, _Celestia?!_ Wyverntooth, I'll take it from here with the description, since you're _so good at it!_ " The last portion of his statement was spoken to the returned clouds in an exaggerated accent with a fluttering of his eyelashes explaining his feelings quite clearly.

(Fine, whatever! I'm gonna go get a cold beer while you're doing that.)

"Very good!" Discord said, looking away from the sky to a stack of clipped papers in his lion's paw which he waved of dust, some half-lensed glasses flying like a bat to rest in front of his wonky eyes. "Ahem! 'Before him knelt the amalgamation of driftwood and fright that had once terrorized the European wastes in the days of old, leading her band of man-starved mares known as the Thracian Mares on an ever-ongoing quest for the flesh of men, big or small. Her hooves, gorgeous and pristine, now resembled enlarged, halved, cleft pine cones that dented the dirt beneath them. Her teeth, once as white as pure elephant ivory and pearlier than any oceanic gemstone, were like a rose brier had been stripped of all of its thorns and glued to every surface inside of her mouth, her tongue resembling a tomcat's cranny axe-' WHAT THE FUCK-HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The draconequus fell on his back, legs flailing about as if in the grips of a seizure with his eagle talon embedding the disks into his muzzle as his chest exploded and imploded repeatedly. "HAHAHAHAHAHA-hehehhe-hihihihi-dihduhdihduh-dohdikkid! THAT'S-AAAHHHH-the greatest thing I've heard in years!"

Celestia merely glared at him, her pale magenta's glowing a shade matching the greenest strain of marijuana now, thorn-like teeth bared in a snarl. Pristine, white coat no more-she was a mare constructed entirely of interwoven, wooden branches and brackets wherein a pulsing, green glow emanated from her chest. Toned legs creaked with stiffness only familiar to a chlorophyll-based being such as herself, and her head shook with ire, causing her mane of brambles and stolons to tangle in and of itself. Leaves the color of snow hung from her fetlocks like the whitest fires of the celestial body she'd been associated with for so long, quivering in the existing breeze that passed her by. Behind her swished what appeared to be salix babylonica branchlets to serve as her tail, trailing along the ground like the train of a peacock.

On her haunch wasn't the stylized sun she'd become known for over the passed millennium, instead, inlaid in her haunch was the symbol of three, open, broken-down-the-middle-hex-nuts held together by a ring. "Such a strange symbol to represent you, _Cay-Cay_. To think your power over pain, starvation, drought and terror would be displayed as the 'nanohazard' glyph, _right_?" His voice grate on her nerves, lily-leaf-like ears folding back as she snarled a warning.

" ** _Quiet!_** " The wooden mare commanded, fury in her verdant eyes as she thoughtfully turned her eyes to the ground. " **I sense something...** "

"Oh?" Discord asked disinterestedly, the farce of interest beneath him even in his state of maddening rage. "And what, pray tell, do you sense?" Silence answered him, his eyes turning to see a sinister smile crossing Celestia's wooden visage as one word escaped her segmented lips.

" **Pain!** "

 ** _XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_**

That's a wrap ladies, gents and other! Holy _shit!_ Ya'll've no idea how hard I tried to both improve and not improve this chapter, what with the gore, non-consensual overtones and the stench of "edgelord grief" (Thanks Fargo!)...It's a miracle I actually put this chapter out there. However, now that I've finally gotten this chapter out of the way, I'm hoping the rest of this story will be a bit easier to write since I'm _adhorrent_ at romance and seeing CookieLight (pfftAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) bloom so beautifully made it all the harder to butcher Crumble after getting so attached to him.

I loved writing that dork and his wife, their date and their interactions were so much fun, but I intended to brutally kill Crumble from the start of this fic. And, I'm not kidding here, this plot point's actually a trigger phrase for my cousin, PheasantJJ. Just for shits and giggles, over the passed few months, I've told her "Crumble dies" and she's gone ballistic which made me laugh my lungs out. By the way, follow her and send her a message saying either "Crumble dies", "Crumble's dead", "#Crumbledies" and/or something along those lines-I can't wait for that phone call! XD

But, that's neither here nor there. I've pushed this chapter off as much as possible, trying to figure out how to put it off by focusing on another character's development. On another subplot. Another flashback. I wanted to keep this chapter on the back burner for as _long as possible_ , dreading the day I had to write the demise of my currently most relevant OC. Unfortunately, today's the day(s) I'd been hiding from for so long. When I wrote Crumble's state of agony, I wanted to write something disgusting and revolting, but I couldn't go all out with the ideas I'd had in mind.

So many _horrific_ scenes played in my mind with how I can make Crumble suffer before his wife's very eyes, but instead of the truly gruesomest...I wrote this one. Hopefully, my writing's still janky enough that this version of Jumble's punishing of Crumble wasn't too graphic or revolting. For the first time I can think of, I actually hope I _bored_ some of you with the gore I wrote.

Discord: "Ahem!" *Waves me onward*

Right! Off the topic of gore-I'd like y'all's opinion on how well I portrayed an angry Discord, as well if I was weird enough with his shenanigans.

Pinkie: *Bouncing with the cartoon sound effect with her paws outstretched for the alcohol bottle in Discord's lion paw* "Gimme the booze, ya fence!"

Discord: *Giving her a look as he places his eagle talon over her head, using it as a roof for her to hit her head on* "I'm no 'fence', as you so quaintly put it, and I'm not giving you back the alcohol."

Pinkie: *Exaggerated, puddle-sized tears leaving her eyes as she continues to bounce* "Waaahh, gimme! Gimme my booze, you cunt-munchin', booze-stealin' numpty!"

Discord: *Actively holding her down, at this point* "NO!"

Pinkie: *No longer bouncing, but crying way harder than before, sits on her haunches with a bubble from her nose* "WAAAHHHH-AAAHHHH! WYVERN, HE WON'T GIMME MY BOOZE!"

Oh my gods, Pinkie, calm the fuck down and shut the fuck up! It's just alcohol. You can go a day without it!

Pinkie: "AAAHHHHH-HAHAAAAAAAA! huuuhh, AHAHAAHHHHHH!"

Ugh...I'm gonna have to cut this a bit shorter than usual, y'all. Pinkie's-

Pinkie: *Jumping to lurch on top of me, covers me in her tears and snot* "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

DAMN IT, PINKIE! (As always: thanks for being here, R&R, no flamin' my ass, be constructive in your criticisms and SEE YA- _G'NIGHT!_ )


	19. An Update For All Y'all

What's up ladies, gents and other! So, as many of you have undoubtedly noticed, I haven't been very active on this site and you're all probably wondering why that is. Well there are a few parts to that equation.

Part one: I had to haul my fat ass in order to just get a passing grade out of my senior year, all of which was by the skin of my teeth with the help and support of my family. That was going on when I wrote the most recent chapter of "A Drake's Fable", which I haven't touched for a reason I'll get into soon. Stress from school took a blow on my drive to get down and write, especially since I'd be sitting down at a computer, something I was doing almost every waking hour to get schoolwork done. For that reason, I've had trouble finding the _want_ to write, at least for a while. You'd all probably call me out on updating "Ongoing Slayer Wars" if I said that stress from school had taken too large a toll on my drive to tell my stories. That's where we encounter-

Part two: The longer a story is, the more chapters it has, the more it can-and usually does-weigh on the author's mind. This is because longer running stories are always upping the ante, always improving. After a while, adding another chapter ceases to be for fun and enjoyment to become done out of devotion, dedication and duty. My longest running story was "The Youki Chronicles", probably my second-oldest story, as well as the one that I had to give up on for the sake of my sanity. After forty-one chapters, I couldn't bring myself to reset my inner critic and I couldn't seem to get into the right headspace to write a continuation of the story I'd become terrified to approach. I'd have had to reread the entire story to refresh my investment in it, if I could, and then I'd have to stop myself from restarting it entirely. That would've been a nightmare and a half, not to mention something I didn't want to put myself through. I'm pretty sure we've all been there, or at least understand the strain of something similar.

Part three: Life problems are always a contributing factor to the productivity and availability of people, the world over. I'm no different. Health problems, questionable mental stability, work troubles, and other ever-present ugliness have reared their heads throughout the past five-or-so months. Not all of these are entirely my own, but they all have played a part in this dry spell of mine. Stress from these things has exacerbated my _want_ to write, but hampered my _drive_ and _willingness_ to write. I've had no shortage of ideas, only a shortage of well-managed time and energy.

Part four: Writer's block. This one's pretty self explanatory, though it's significant in regards to one, particular story. "A Drake's Fable"'s first major story arc, dubbed "The Cult of Canterlot", has mostly ended, with the gruesome death of a character I'd originally planned to butcher. What I hadn't anticipated was that I'd end up getting attached to him, which ended up making his slaughter all the harder to carry out. As my MLP fic's readers will attest, I did in fact manage to do so, though it left me feeling very unpleasant as well as undriven. For this reason, I've kept off of fanfiction for most of this time, only recently getting around to start writing the next chapter to "A Drake's Fable".

Part five: Out of grief, pride and a self-borne sense of humiliation, I decided to let one of my stories go. Now, despite the reasons for doing so and the feeling of relief, it still left me with a sense of disappointment as well as a bit of guilt. This didn't help me work around the other aforementioned drivers against my updates.

All of these things made it harder for me to get back into the fanfiction scene than a hard-on in the middle of a Mormon sermon, but it has given me time to think and attempt to write a book of my own imagination. The latter hasn't gone too well, unfortunately, unlike the former. I'm thinking that, instead of writing a story up to a point where I can't get back into it after a moment's hiatus to breathe, I'll end stories at a more reasonable chapter count and continue the story in a "sequel book" sort of deal. This is nothing new to fanfiction authors, as many do this for a variety of reasons, and I'm only now contemplating it this seriously because it could actually service the progression and pacing of my stories.

Hear me out on this one, because I'm not sure how much this makes sense or how well it could work. Instead of having a grand plan hinging on spreading a shit-load of world building, character development and story progression over dozens upon dozens of chapters, I could segment these ongoing stories into more easily digestible, story arc-centered segments. For instance, "A Drake's Fable" has finished its first major story arc and is about to enter another one, and ending the current segment as its own story might do me some good in getting my muse back into gear by resetting the metaphorical clock with a clean slate. This could also allow me to continue "Ongoing Slayer Wars" without having the sense that I'm being pressured to finish it as it is now. Hell, I could even use this hypothetical system to focus more on other characters without losing attentiveness on everything else, as much.

Now, here's where you-the readers-are brought in. I'm still debating this idea and am weigh the cons to the pros, so I'm thinking that I'll open up a poll for the first time in my memory and career as a fanfiction author to let y'all help me decide on this.


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